


The Hippie and The Scientist

by MellindaHightop, Thedragoninthesnow



Series: Who You Gonna Call? [1]
Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-07-27 12:19:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 50,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7617856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MellindaHightop/pseuds/MellindaHightop, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thedragoninthesnow/pseuds/Thedragoninthesnow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alice was just a regular florist....until a Ghostbuster walked into her life</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Names are important

Alice sighed softly as she waved her latest customer off, professional smile off of her face the moment his back was turned. She hated male customers who came in and expected her to know instantly what their girlfriends wanted. Just because she was a girl didn’t mean she was part of a hive mind with their lovers. Some just couldn’t understand that and would get pissy with her about it.

Pushing her hair out of her face she took a moment to look at herself reflected in one of her metal vases. All her life Alice had given off a hippie flower child vibe according to her parents, so it wasn’t a shock for them when she dyed her hair pastel pinks and blues and took over a floral shop from their aging neighbor. Once out of high school she traded her school uniform for long skirts, crop tops and maxi dresses. A massive amount of floral themed tattoos along her sides and arms completed the picture. Her mother hadn’t been happy when she moved out, saying that she was still too young since she had graduated at nineteen and left her house soon after. Five years have passed and Alice could honestly say she’s never been happier.

Except for some customers. Next time she heard ‘Just give me something girls like’ she may pop a blood vessel in her brain.

Going back to the counter Alice was about to get started planning a bouquet that she had decided to make for her mother’s birthday when the wind chimes she had in place of the traditional bell rang out. “Welcome to the Talking Garden” It was the original name and Alice thought it was funny given her own name. Not many got the joke however.

From the front door came one of the prettiest women Alice had ever seen. Blonde hair that was curled into a pompadour and a swagger then instantly hit all of Alice’s ‘yes please’ buttons. It took her a few moments to take in the rest of the picture and it just completed the look. Paint splattered overalls and a green tank top that barely peeked out, she also wore yellow tinted glasses that hide the color of her eyes. Alice wanted to lean over the counter to see her shoes, but restrained herself.

“Good morning. How can I help you?” Five years in this job and apparently her mouth finally decided to work on autopilot.

“Yeah…I need some flowers for a friend’s birthday. Something like massively showy you know?”

“Showy I can do.” Moving around the counter Alice started to collect supplies and took a subtle moment to glance down at her feet. Army boots with neon green laces, she wasn't really surprised. “Any particulars about it or am I allowed to go nuts?”

“She likes yellows and purples. And not a fan of the roses.”

“So something floral and fresh. Avoid the roses and keep it more simple with the flowers but showy overall?”

“Yeah, sounds perfect.”

“Did you need this today?”

“Yeah…” She seemed hesitant for a moment and blushed, rubbing her hair. “I kinda blanked and completely forgot that I had to get her something.”

Alice nodded for a moment, moving to her work table so she could start building the gift. “You can sit and watch if you want or I’ve got a back room you can wait in.”  
“I’ll wait here.” Alice didn’t look up but could hear her pulling the stool that was left out for customers over to the table as well.

Shrugging a shoulder Alice decided to focus on her work instead of on the pretty lady. Wouldn’t do to drool and look like an idiot. Clicking her tongue she pulled out a yellow depression glass vase and started to build the bouquet into it. A few Viburnum stems to build the shape and then Black-eyed Susans to brighten it up. Daylillies and yellow pansies completed the yellow and Alice turned her attention to the purples. Bellflowers, catmint, and allium finished out the bouquet and she pulled out a purple ribbon and tied it into a perfect bow around the neck of the vase.

“Tada! Would you like me to wrap this up so the flowers don’t get bruised or deliver it myself?” She asked as she turned back to the woman.

“Deliver, knowing me I will find some way to bruise them.”

“Understandable. Do you want a card for this?”

“Sure.”

Nodding slightly Alice walked back to the counter and trilled her tongue slightly as she waved her hand in front of her stand of cards before picking one at random. It was blank, but had a purple border and she grabbed a pin to attach it to the ribbon. Digging a pen out from her drawer and came back over to the work table and hanged the card and pen over.

“Go nuts. I’m gonna start adding this up.”

As she left the woman to write her thoughts down Alice went back to her counter and started punching in the totals for flowers and vase into her calculator. It was a bit old fashioned, but she felt it made her more honest not to have a computer doing all the work. Tax came next and finally she took off a discount for it being a birthday bouquet as she always did. It was still a bit pricey, but with the size of it that was to be expected. With the total in hand she went back to the woman to see if she was done.

“Got the total. Is this gonna be cash or card?”

“Cash.” 

“Alright. Eighty five dollars even.”

Cash was easily handed over and Alice took down the address, promising she would bring the flowers by at noon so it would be a surprise. Waving the woman out she paused halfway to the counter again and starting cursing as she realized she never got her name or the name of the friend the bouquet was for. Looking back at the gift she made the choice to invade a bit of privacy and see if the name was written on the card. Carefully unpinning it she opened it up and read the note.

 _Abby,_  
_Congrats on surviving another year after escaping the womb._  
_Jilllian_

Alice blinked slightly at the odd phrasing, but at least she now had both names. Wrapping the bouquet up with some plastic so nothing fell out of place during the wait she went back to planning her mom’s gift until it was time to head out. A few other customers drifted in, one or two new and a few regulars who always stopped by even if they weren't buying anything. At eleven thirty Alice checked the directions on her phone and was surprised it was a five minute walk between the two points. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, when else would she ever get a delivery this close, Alice swept up her shop and grabbed her keys and the flowers. The door lock happily clicked behind her and she set off to her delivery.

Of all the things she expected when the woman...Jillian came in, her working at a firehouse was not one of them. Alice stood outside it for a moment or two, blinking slowly as she tried to comprehend the idea. Their brief conversation didn't give her a lot of details into Jillian's character, but something about her vibrated as the one who started the fires, not put them out. With a click of her tongue she went through the doors, letting the sounds of a party guide her to the second floor.

Apparently it was a massive party despite Alice only seeing four women. What looked like a cross between Frankenstein's lab and the inside of every techophobe’s worst nightmare was completely decked out in party streamers and there were even balloons strung up, though some had wiggled free and were lazily drifting to the ceiling.

“Definitely not firemen.” She muttered to herself before rapping her knuckles against the first solid and non-scary looking thing she could find to draw attention to herself. The noise was enough to get the attention of one of the women, a tall thin woman with orange looking hair, who quickly got everyone else to pay attention.

“I’m looking for a Miss Abby?” Alice said politely, realizing she had kind of barged in on what looked like a private affair. “Delivery of a birthday gift.”

“Here!” The woman who spoke up had dark roots and what looked like dyed white tips for hair, making Alice feel more in place with her pastel locks. Smiling to her Alice came over and set the bouquet down gently so none of the water sloshed out.  
“Happy birthday Miss.” She said with a nod, stepping back so she could open the wrapping.

“Thank you!” Alice watched as she carefully cut the wrapping open and gaped for a few moments at the bouquet. Alice was always proud of her work and she smiled brightly as she and the other women made comments about how beautiful the arrangement was. Glancing to the side Alice saw Jillian hanging back and smiling softly as she watched Abby pull the card off of the ribbon.

“Wow, Holtzmann! Thank you!” And now Alice had a full name. Jillian Holtzmann. A part of her wondered why that name rang a little bell in the back of her mind, but Alice shook it off in order to watch Abby go over to Jillian and give her a massive hug. Deciding it was time to leave the girls to their party she politely stepped away.

“Alright. I’ll leave ya’ll to your fun. Miss Abby those should last about two weeks if you keep cleaning the water and put a little plant food into the clean water.” She clapped her hands together with a smile and politely waved ‘Bye’ to the group.

“See ya, Beautiful.”

Alice felt her cheeks turn a red that would put even her most expensive wine roses to shame as she blinked at Jillian who just smirked and winked. Clearing her throat awkwardly Alice nodding again and hurried out of the firehouse before she said something that would embarrass her in front of the group. Half way through her hurried pace back to her shop she stopped and cursed again.

This time she forgot to give her own name.


	2. Second impressions are lasting

After the rather embarrassing event yesterday, seriously how did she forget to give her name twice?!, the rest of Alice’s went by uneventfully and she locked up at closing time before returning to her apartment with her loving pets. The next morning she rolled out of bed and dressed in a long tie dye maxi dress and pulled her pastel hair into braids. Locking the apartment door behind her she hopped onto her scooter and puttered off to her shop. Her little powder blue vespa gave an angry cough when she parked it behind her shop and Alice couldn’t help the glare she gave it. It had died on her a few times and only restarted from a sharp kick.

The shop opened quickly and she booted up her laptop so she could work on her orders for the shop in between customers. The first hour passed by with nothing more than the clicking of her keys so Alice wasn’t ashamed to say she jumped out of her skin when her phone started ringing like mad. “I’ve got to change that ringer.” She muttered to herself as she popped it off the hook and rested it between her shoulder and ear. “Thank you for calling the Talking Garden, this is Alice how may I help you?” She greeted happily, grabbing a notepad and pen as the person on the phone started listing off what they needed. She wrote quickly not looking up when her wind chimes tinkled and alerted her to a walk in customer. “I’ll be with you in a moment.” She said before listening to her phone customer.

“Alright that’s a one dozen rose vase, mix of white and yellow. Clear vase and a white ribbon. Note card in plain white with the note ‘Congratulations on your pregnancy Victoria. We’ll miss you, Dave.’ Did you want to write the note yourself when you came to pick it up?” A couple more muttered words on Dave’s end. “Alright I’ll leave the note card out. When did you need this? Alright it will be ready by lunch no problem, just swing by any time before twelve thirty and you can pick it up.” Hanging up she finished the note she made herself and then turned to the door.  
“Sorry for making you wa…” Alice’s voice died in her throat when she saw Jillian Holtzmann standing in her shop again. “Good morning Miss Holtzmann.”

"Doctor, actually. You can call me Holtzmann. Most do. Or you can call me Holtzy like Patty does. Formalities are boring."

Alice felt her eyebrow jump slightly at being told Jilli…Holtzmann, if she had a preference Alice would respect it, was a titled doctor. “In what?”

“Experimental particle physics.”

“I’m going to nod and smile and pretend I’ve got any idea what that is.” Holtzmann laughed at her comment, nodding and seemingly pleased with the small joke Alice made. “What can I do for you Holtzmann?”

"Abby took her flowers home. While they were there it was less drab and danky. Thought some office flowers would lighten things when customers drop by."

“So another bouquet or were you looking for a potted plant?”

“Bouquet. Maybe not as big since it’s gonna be sitting on a desk, and wouldn’t want someone accidently killing it?”

“I can do that. Colors?”

“Go nuts.”

Alice hummed happily, hopping over to her work table and pulling out one of her low square rose colored vases. “Budget limit?”

“None.”

That caused Alice to pause for a moment before she shrugged. She wasn’t the type to take advantage of a person so she decided to keep it simple. In the vase she potted a few foam pieces that would hold the water for the plants without leaking. She covered that with moss so it wouldn’t show through the glass. From there she carefully started to insert tulips into the foam, making sure she took a pin and got them right under the heads before she inserted them into the foam.

“What yah doin’ that for?”

Alice jumped slightly, having forgotten that Holtzmann was still in the room. Half turning from her current project she blinked at Holtzmann sitting on the stool again. “Ah. Tulips have a habit of growing after they’ve been cut which can ruin the appearance of the vase. Pinning them like that keeps them from growing overnight.”

“Hm. So what does it take to be a florist? A college degree or something?”

“Is this twenty questions?”

“Want it to be?”

Alice laughed softly and shook her head before turning back to her work. “No. I worked my summers during high school here since the original owner was my neighbor. When she decided to retire I was getting ready to graduate so after a few talks she handed the keys over to me.”

“Never went to college?”

“Never saw a reason to. Any degree that would’ve made my parents happy would’ve been hell on me.”

“Bet they were pissed about that.”

“Mom flipped. Dad seemed to have been waiting for it.” Alice laughed, shrugging her left shoulder. “They both got pissy when I moved out. Said I was going to burn myself out, but five years a later and I’m still going.”

“What do they do?”

“Lawyers”

“Ouch, slimy profession… No offense.”

Alice hummed in answer, still carefully inserting the tulips into the foam.

“So what about the shop name? Play on words?”

“Kind of. It’s the original name but it’s a personal joke for me.”

“Name’s Alice or something?”

“Or something yeah.” Alice laughed and pushed some of her bangs out of her face. “My name’s Alice Campbell.”

Holtzmann smiled as if she was getting some joke and nodded. This carried on for a while with Alice answering whatever questions popped into Holtzmann’s mind. They were all fairly random but it made Alice laugh, and passed the time as she filled out the vase with more tulips and a few carnations.

“Is your hair edible?”

At that question Alice paused again and fully turned to look at Holtzmann. The woman had a semi-manic smile on her lips and was staring at her pigtails with glee.

“No. No it’s not.”

“Sadness. It looks like cotton candy. So tempted to lick it...”

“I don’t think straight sugar is something you need.”

She laughed again and Alice smiled before finishing up the bouquet for her. “Done. Let me total it out and wrap this up unless you want it delivered again?”

“Nah I’ll take it this time.”

Nodding Alice went to her counter and added up quickly, her calculator giving her a little sass at the rapid pace she hit it. Ignoring the thing she stepped back to Holtzmann as the woman pulled out her wallet. Now that she got a better look at it, she could see the woman had a tye dye wallet made of duct tape.

“Thirty-four even.” This one was smaller and tulips were fairly cheap to buy. Plus she may have discounted the price again since Holtzmann kept her entertained while she was making the bouquet.

Cash was handed over again, making Alice wonder if Holtzmann just didn’t trust banks with her money. Tucking it into the cash register she wrapped the tulips up in plastic so they wouldn’t get damaged and held the door open as Holtzmann left the shop with it.

“Have a good rest of the day Holtzmann!”

“See ya next time I come through the looking glass Alice.” With a wink and a smirk Holtzmann walked off to the firehouse.

It wasn’t until the door swung shut and Alice had turned to start working on the next project did a blush suddenly fill her cheeks.

Was she just flirted with using literature?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I really did not expect this to take off like it did. Seriously guys the first chapter basically outstripped my other works in twelve hours, I am beyond thrilled.
> 
> On another note a friend of mine may be writing a compainion piece to this told from Jillian's POV so we can see what the mad scientist is thinking throughout this. When that happens you'll be told.


	3. Stolen Flowers

Alice’s bouquets last weeks if the people she gives them to listen to her. The handheld ones were tipped with water vials and she gave instructions to get them into a vase as soon as possible, and the already vased ones just needed their water changed. So when Holtzmann wandered back into her shop the following day Alice felt a deep frown take over her face. There was no way the thing died overnight, she staked her reputation on her gifts surviving for long periods of time. Peach, one of her pets and a little long haired yorkie, came rushing from the back room as fast as her three legs could take her to bark at Holtzmann.

“Peach! Sit!” At her command the dog plopped down on her fuzzy butt right in front of Holtzmann. “Sorry about her. Usually she’s at home but someone has an appointment with the vet at noon.” Alice came around her counter to pick up the yorkie. Peach rolled in her arms happily, panting and waving her only front paw for attention. “She got fixed last week and he wants to make sure that everything is going well.”

“Short for Peach Blossom?”

“Short for ‘my big brother’s name is Bowser and mommy is a dork so she’s naming me Peach.’ You can see why I shortened it to just ‘Peach’.” Alice laughed softly and set Peach down again so she could rush around the shop.

Holtzmann laughed as well and followed after Alice when she headed to her work table. Leaning against it she lifted her eyebrow to the scientist (hadn’t googling what the hell experimental particle physics was been a fun way to spend her night?), waiting for an explanation as to why she had come back so soon.

“So uh…the bouquet kinda...broke...because of the floor.”

Alice could see the disaster in her mind. Tulips broken, carnations destroyed and glass everywhere. Thankfully the foam meant that there wouldn’t be a huge water mess to clean up. Sighing softly she pinched the bridge of her nose and blinked at Holtzmann.

“How?”

“Kevin knocked it over when he got excited.”

At that weird comment Alice assumed Kevin was a dog or some other pet. Not the name she thought Holtzmann would name a pet, but maybe Abby or one of the other women that was there had named the pet. Wiggling one of her pinks locks free of the braided updo she had pinned her hair up into this morning she sighed and nodded her head to the side.

“Want me to make another one?”

“Please?” Alice chuckled softly at the puppy dog eyes that Holtmann was giving her and nodded.

“Same as yesterday?”

“Be a bit dull wouldn’t it?”

“True.” Smiling Alice brought up a ceramic vase this time instead of glass just in case Kevin knocked it over again it wouldn’t shatter into millions of pieces they would need to clean up. This time she focused on lilies and morning glories instead of tulips and carnations. A bit of a personal touch since her left side was tattooed with calla lilies and her right with morning glories.  
The vase was once again fitted with foam and she started to build the bouquet from there.

Stargazers and Elodie lilies filled in the vase and brought bright color to it and the morning glories cooled it down. The vase was a green color so she used baby’s breath to fill in the spaces. Once it was done she hurried to her counter to total it all up and came back to Holtzmann with the receipt for her. Cash was passed over again and Alice wrapped up the vase in plastic so it would easier for Holtzmann to take it back to the firehouse. Peach came out to say goodbye, bouncing slightly as she barked after Holtzmann.

This started a very odd pattern where Holtzmann came into her shop every morning for another bouquet. Sometimes the reason was that Kevin had knocked it over again, and other times it was that one of the other women had taken the flowers home. Through that Alice learned the names of the other two, Erin was the one with the dyed orange hair and Patty had been the tall black woman with braids. She could make up the bouquets whenever Holtmann asked, but now there was a standing ‘Holtzmann discount’ in her math since she was in there every day. It didn’t feel right to charge her full price when she spent so much money in her shop.

After about two weeks and the fourth time Kevin breaking her vase Alice asked if Holtzmann honestly cared what the vase looked like. Getting a ‘no’ she changed up from the ceramic vases to her more sturdy ones. First round was a plastic teapot that she used baby’s breath to spill out of the spout and filled the pot of it with fragrant anglewing jasmine. Patty took it home, claiming it was to pretty to stay at the lab. A metal bucket with mosaic pieces glued to it filled with heliotropes was stolen away by Abby who called the faux vase adorable. Mock oranges and star magnolia in a reglued vase she found in a craft store dumpster got taken by Erin and when she expressed annoyance at her coworkers Holtzmann merely gave a little laugh and shrug.

By the end of week three Alice was torn between being annoyed at the women constantly taking the flowers and complimented that they adored the pieces enough to take them home with them. Sighing softly she carefully worked on a wreath for a bridal shower. The stems of several white and orange roses were twisted together as she worked along with ivy stems and leaves helping bulk it out. Her door opened and she popped her head around one of the shelves to see who had come in.

“Again?” She asked, seeing Holtzmann standing there.

“Nah not this time. Came in out of habit.”

Alice’s cheeks blushed slightly at the idea she was becoming Holtzmann’s habit for the day and she ducked around the shelf to continue working on the wreath. Holtzmann’s boots squeaked against the floor as she came over to sit on the stool again and watch her work. Falling into the pattern of the building of the wreath Alice hummed under her breath as she twisted the roses and ivy into a circular shape.

The shop was completely silent so when ‘Go Your Own Way’ by Fleetwood Mac started blasting she jumped and sent her cutting scissors skittering against the table. Turning to Holtzmann she noticed the woman had her cellphone out and playing music. She was also laughing madly at Alice’s reaction to the sudden blast of music.

“Not funny.”

“More like hilarious.”

Clicking her tongue slightly she turned back to the wreath but that wasn’t to be since Holtzmann set her phone down and tugged Alice away from the table.

“Holtzmann I’ve got to finish that.”

Alice was ignored and pulled into a dance along with Holtzmann. Laughing softly she gave up struggling and just fell into the steps with her. While the music wasn’t fit for a tango it seemed to be the style that Holtzmann wanted to try. Halfway through the song Alice decided to show off the high school dance class she took and slid her foot into position, taking the lead on the dance and twirled Holtzman slightly off of her feet. She was physically stronger than her little frame suggested due to nine years of lifting bags of fertilizer and huge wedding pieces. Apparently she hadn’t been expecting her feet to lift off of the ground because the moment they did Holtzmann dropped her grip on Alice’s hands and grabbed at her shoulders. Laughing Alice let her back down and stepped away.

“How the hell?!” Alice laughed softly at the completely confused expression she had caused on Holtzmann’s face. Lifting her arms she flexed and showed off the muscles that caused the garden sleeve tattoos she had on her arms to bulge out slightly.

“My god woman. You’ve got the face of a wood nymph and the body of Ryan Gosling.”

Alice almost fell over laughing at that, arms dropping and leaning against her table as her laughter bounced around the shop. “I’ve never heard it described like that.” She coughed out, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I mean yeah people have been surprised by it, but never that much.”

Holtzmann seemed to have no answer for her so Alice shrugged her left shoulder again and turned back to the work. Fingers darting like needles she went back to twisting the stems together as the woman behind her settled back into her seat and turned off the music that was still pumping out.

“So…why orange?”

“Customer asked for them. I’m assuming either because they’re her favorite color or because they mean desire and paired with the white roses and ivy the wreath can read ‘innocent desire and loyalty’ if you know the meanings.”

“Ah, the flower lingo.”

“To preserve the friendship I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just call it that.”

That sent her off into a series of cackles as Alice finished the work, tying a silver bow to the top so they have something to hang it from. Wrapping the wreath in plastic she stored it in the cooler since the pickup wasn’t until this evening. She paused as she bent to grab the next piece she had to work and turned to Holtzmann, hands on her hips as she tried to give her a firm look.

“You’re not gonna pull me into another dance are you? I gotta get my work done.”

“Don’t you feel special.” Alice’s eyebrow jumped and she half glared at Holtzmann. “One dance per customer sorry.”

Satisfied that she would be able to get the next project done without interruption she picked up a clear vase from under her table and filled it with water. Taping the opening to prevent any water from dripping onto the vase itself if she had to move flowers around she started to build the bouquet itself. Holtzmann was silent for a moment as she worked, seemingly content with just sitting there as she carefully arranged leaves and blossoms into the vase. But it seemed that silence was only going to last a few moments to lull Alice into a sense of security.

“Though I have to admit your ass looks amazing tangoing in that skirt.”

“Holtzmann!” Alice tried to look scandalized even as her cheeks flushed into a deep red that was becoming standard around the woman. She had to resist the urge to look over her shoulder to see if her butt really did look good in the floor length skirt.

“I’m just saying! It is a very nice ass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously guys I am beyond moved by how much love this fic is getting. It's out pacing every other thing I've written and I get teary eyes as I watch the numbers grow (I am not joking in the slightest).


	4. Talks and talks

The second Saturday night of every month was Alice’s least favorite. For the past five years that was the day she had to call her parents otherwise her mother would be at her shop Sunday morning rapping her knuckles against the door to be let in despite the ‘Closed’ sign hanging from the window. Alice would have to spend an hour assuring the woman that she was perfectly fine and not getting any work done cleaning up the shop and putting in orders since her mother insisted that she sit in the tea room with her as she sobbed into her handkerchief about how much she missed her ‘baby princess’. It was easier just to waste her Saturday night listening to her parents whine about her not living with them anymore then listen to her mom fake sob in her shop.

Laying out on her couch she dialed her parents number and gave a slight groan as Bowser crawled into her lap. He was a mutt of unknown breeds she picked up in a pound her second year living alone and was blind as a bat. She named him Bowser since at the time all she had was an old Atari console and the Mario games to pass the nights away. Bowser had been three years old when she got him and seemed stuck in his puppy mindset along with being completely convinced he was a lapdog despite being the same size as a golden retriever.

Since him she also added in Peach, a three legged long haired yorkie who was found at the same pound. She was a sweet little thing, but noisy as hell and loved barking at leaves as they skittered across her porch. Currently she was sleeping in Bowser’s bed since the big lug was on mommy’s stomach. The last pet was Mario, an African Grey parrot who had been given to her by the upstairs neighbors when they moved out. When he first moved in he whistled the Mario theme song constantly, leading her to rename him from Gilbert to Mario. Currently she had him up to the Star Wars themes along with being able to whistle along with her radio and hold nearly complete conversations. 

He was also smarter than anyone she knew and could get out of his cage the moment her back was turned. Which lead to many awkward moments of him creeping up on her and yelling for attention which in turn caused her to drop whatever she was holding and scream in shock.

Hitting the call button on her phone she listened to it ring twice before her mother picked it up. The woman must’ve been waiting for it to ring. Sighing softly Alice wiggled her toes in her fuzzy slippers as her mother instantly started in on asking why it took her so long to call.

“I had to make myself dinner as well as feed the animals.”

“Those pets of yours take up too much time. You never needed them before.”

“I had Blue.”

“Blue was a betta fish. A _red_ betta fish.”

Alice shrugged even though her mother couldn’t see her. “I was a precocious eight year old…..where’s dad?” Usually the man was on the line as well.

“He’s working late. New client.”

She had to bite back a groan at that. While he was never fond of the fact she moved out right out of high school he would usually stop her mom when the woman started on her ‘if you loved me you’d move back in’ routine. Dad wasn’t the guilt trip type.

“I see.”

At her rather bland comment her mother launched into her routine, trying to press Alice to move back home. She tuned the woman out and just focused on Bowser, petting the dog’s head as he huffed and groaned. Being blind meant his hearing had gotten better and he seemed to dislike her mother’s voice. She hummed in response during the pauses in her mother’s rant, knowing the routine by heart. When it finally ended she gave the answer she always did.

“I’m happy. That should be enough.”

Her mother gave a hum that sounded much like her own, a habit the two women shared and was usually translated to ‘You’re wrong but I’m too tired to explain why’. Though sometimes Alice used it as ‘Well you’re not wrong.’ It just depended on the situation she was in.

“Well I still think that flower shop is in a bad part of town.”

“Miss Ginny worked in there for years with no incident.”

“Well what about that crazy woman that’s been coming into the shop for days now?!”

At the comment Alice sat upright, grip tight on her phone as rage boiled through her blood.

“Have you been spying on me again?” It happened during the first year. Her mother had hired a PI to keep an eye on her, leading to the poor man getting maced in the eyes when Alice mistook him for a stalker.

She still sends him apology flowers.

Her mother had always been like that. If Alice wasn’t in line of sight then she was up to something or someone was going to hurt her. Sometimes she wondered if her mother had a mental issue that caused her paranoia or if it was just how the woman was.

Something in her tone must’ve translated to her mother, because she could hear the older woman physically shrink away from the phone as she shifted in her chair.

“Of course not. But Mr. Thomas was in the office yesterday and mentioned seeing some blonde woman with yellow glasses in your shop two or three times a week.”

Mr. Thomas had five daughters who all worked in some medical field and he spent his days bringing each one of them a single red rose since his wife had passed a year ago. He was also suing the company that made his wife’s medicine which meant he was in her parent’s office talking to the third coworker who handled those cases. Of course he would be the one to tell them that. Sighing she fell back onto her couch.

“It’s nothing mom. Holtzmann is a friend and dealing with bouquet troubles.”

“Holtzmann? What type of name is that?”

“Hers.”

This didn’t please her mother, who never liked it when Alice showed off her snippy side. She went into a rant about respecting one’s parents and how dare she take that tone with her. Alice rubbed her eyes, glancing at the clock and realizing that it was getting late. While she didn’t open the shop for customers on Sundays she still got there early to do her work. At the pause in the rant as her mother took a breath Alice jumped.

“Mom it’s getting late.”

“…I know. You know I just want you safe right princess?”

“I know. I’ll talk to you soon mom.”

Hanging up Alice tossed her phone onto her coffee table and rubbed both hands against her face. She hated pissing her mother off, mostly because of the rants but partly because while she disliked her mother she still loved the woman.

“Bowser down.” At her command he easily hopped off of her, tail wagging since he knew it was bed time. Groaning as she stood up Alice patted her hip to wake Peach up, the little dog quickly rushing to the bedroom to grab the best spot on the bed before Bowser could. Shuffling off after them she paused just inside her bedroom door to kick her slippers off and wiggle out of her pj pants, leaving her in an oversized top as she crawled into bed with her dogs. Mario had been put to bed an hour ago and hadn’t stirred as she left the living room.

~~~

The next morning she went into her shop and locked the door behind her, keeping the sign on ‘Closed’ even though people would be able to see her through the large windows. She was dressed out of style on Sundays as well, trading in her hippie wear for shorts and a band t-shirt since she did her heavy cleaning and her typical clothes were too delicate for it. Turning her radio on she tuned to the rock station and let the pumping beat through the shop as she started to clean up the usual mess that many florist shops seemed to have.

As she worked Alice kept glancing over to her door as if she was waiting for someone. Shaking her head she reminded herself that no one came over on Sundays since they knew she was closed. Not even Holtzmann would come by on Sundays.

Pausing slightly when that thought crossed her mind Alice slapped her cheeks, trying to get herself back in order. She hadn’t dated anyone since leaving high school, and hadn’t dated a woman since her junior year and the train wreck that had been. It hadn’t been anyone’s fault, she and Michelle just had been too emotional and things got out of hand. Besides even with Holtzmann’s style and attitude there was no promise she swung towards girls. Alice had gotten sick of getting crushes on straight girls.

Sighing she leaned heavily on her broom, thinking over the past month. Holtzmann was in her shop every day or nearly, and the two of them would talk about nothing and everything as she worked on another project. The scientist always seemed interested in learning about Alice’s boring life, prodding answers from the girl as she carefully built bouquets for either Holtzmann or another customer. Alice appreciated the attention, having been an only child with lawyer parents meant she felt pretty ignored growing up. Her all girl’s private school wasn’t better for self-esteem issues either since the teachers all seemed too tired to try to connect with their students.

But it was just silly to think Holtzmann would be interested in a little hippie wanna be like her. Whatever she did for a living was probably light years ahead of a florist in an inherited shop, and as a doctor she would probably be more interested in someone who had gone to college instead of simply calling it quits after high school. Shaking her head again Alice went back to sweeping up, biting her tongue to keep from turning her head back to the door.

By noon she was mentally beating herself up over still thinking of the possibility that Holtzmann would be interested in her. Sitting on her counter with her laptop in her lap she did her orders so that there wouldn’t be any lag in flowers for customer’s orders. Every so often her fingers paused as her mind drifted to Holtzmann again. And a few little fantasies that caused a blush to cross her cheeks.

It was getting to the point of just being silly. Next time she saw Holtzmann she was going to have to say _something_ about it otherwise she’d drive herself crazy.

Hopefully she wouldn’t lose a friendship over a silly little crush that would vanish as soon as she talked about it.


	5. Jealousy and Flowers

Despite her conviction that the next time Holtzmann came into the shop Alice would talk to her she couldn’t help a bit of relief when the woman didn’t appear the next day. That relief changed to worry when she also didn’t come in for the next three days. She would spend the first hour of the day of opening watching the door to see if the woman would wander into the shop as she usually did. No dice for a full week and Alice wondered if she had maybe insulted her unknowingly the last time she was there. Fidgeting with her hair as another Sunday came and went Alice started to feel her stomach drop as she waited for the clock to tick by and tell her that Holtzmann wasn’t coming again.

That Tuesday however her door chimed happily as Alice was working on another project. This time it was an anniversary present, a multi-rose bouquet held in a crystal vase that the husband had brought in himself. “Welcome to the Talking Garden! If you wanna come around the shelf we can discuss what you need.” She called over her shoulder, still carefully inserting the roses into the vase in order to make them look stunning as the customer had requested. It was mostly pink roses since those were the wife’s favorites, but she also inserted white rose buds that would open in a few days and show off their stunning color. Despite her concentration in her work Alice’s head snapped up at the sound of all too familiar squeaks against her floor. She apparently was so far gone into the crush that she could identify the woman just by sound of her shoes.

Turning from the project she raised an eyebrow at Holtzmann who gave her a somewhat sheepish grin and wave. She held the gaze for a moment before laughing and shaking her head.

“Been busy?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe.”

Alice hummed and turned back to the project, letting Holtzmann settle into what was quickly becoming ‘her’ seat. Mentally she was prodding herself into action, saying she had to say something to her. But a glance at Holtzmann showed her bags under her eyes, shaking hands and a slouch that usually wasn’t there. Whatever had kept her busy had also obviously exhausted her and it didn’t feel right for Alice to push her into a conversation. This was the quietest Alice had ever seen her and from that she decided that the conversation could wait another day.

Instead she whistled the tune of ‘Hey Jude’ as she worked, filling the space herself so that Holtzmann wouldn’t feel like she needed to do it. Instead of an over reactive response the woman simply tapped her foot in time with her whistling and watched as her hands carefully built the bouquet up and into a gracefully round shape. Once the flowers were done a simple white and pink tipped ribbon was tied around it and she carefully pinned another rose bud into the very middle of the bow. Stepping back she tipped her head slightly to see how she liked it when Holtzmann suddenly started clapping.

“Looks epic.”

“All my of works look epic.”

Holtzmann laughed as Alice wrapped the bouquet up, tapping the receipt to it so she wouldn’t forget. Tucking it into the cooler along with a project that was being picked up today she walked over to Holtzmann and gently laid a hand against her forehead as if checking for a fever.

“Not sick, despite the hellish appearance. I just got caught up in work.”

“Hm.” Alice stepped away a moment and tilted her head at the woman. “Good. I can’t afford to get sick and miss work.”

“That’s a lie. I pretty much funded some sick leave.”

This time Alice laughed and nodded, heading back to her counter to mark off the project she just finished on her ‘To do’ list.

“This is true. Did you need another bouquet or are they finally staying put?”

“Do I need a reason to see you?”

Alice felt her cheeks flush and Holtzmann waggled her eyebrows at her. Glaring at her she went down the list to see what needed to be done next. Some of the projects weren’t being picked up till almost closing and only one other needed to be picked up by lunch. Getting the list for that one she wandered back to her work table and Holtzmann and laid out a length of blue sparkly paper to build the bouquet on. Next she started to lay down from greenery and followed those up by Blue Daze Morning Glories.

“Blue the customer’s favorite color or something?”

“Mine. Specifically powder blue. But the customer just said to make something pretty for a young girl and when I was a kid I always begged my aunt to buy me blue flowers. So now I’m living out my dreams.”

Holtzmann made a noise in the back of her throat, but Alice ignored it in favor of building up the bouquet. It was going to be flat since it was being presented to her. She added blades of long grass to give it movement and little daisies since it was for a little girl. Overall it was a cute and delicate bouquet that was fit for a child. Folding the paper around it she tied it together with a thin white ribbon and curled the ends of it with a scissors to give it a bouncier look to appeal for the child.

Wrapping it in plastic as well it got tucked into the cooler next to the anniversary present. Sighing softly she smiled to Holtzmann and motioned her to follow into the tea room. She had time before she needed to start on the next project and the wind chimes would alert her to another walk in. Right now she wanted to catch up with Holtzmann and see what the last week had been like for her.

~~~

Holtzmann didn’t come in the next day but Alice figured she was probably sleeping off the massive project she told her about. In minute detail despite the obvious confusion on her face which only served to have her explain each of the little things to her. While Alice didn’t fully understand the project and what it did it was obvious that Holtzmann was beyond ecstatic for a chance to test it out so she let her ramble and encouraged the talk by questioning things that she hadn’t touched on in the initial rant. Just because she didn’t understand it didn’t mean she wouldn’t sit there and listen and try to learn.

By the end of the second day Alice assumed the other was still passed out, and given how Holtzmann said she spent the better part of the _week_ doing nothing but the project who could blame her? Still she kept her ears open to the door as she started to sweep up the mess that always formed around the bottom of her work table. There were thirty minutes left on the clock when the door swung open again and sent the wind chime tinkling into the air.

“Welcome to the Talking Gar…” Holtzmann stood there and Alice dropped her standard greeting to smile at her. “Evening sleepy. Feeling better?”

“Yeah…” The woman looked slightly nervous and couldn’t meet Alice’s eyes, making her wonder if something had happened. Clicking her tongue she decided to ignore the look and stepped to the counter to talk to her.

“I need a bouquet.” It was said in a rush and Holtzmann’s eyes were still unable to focus on Alice, causing her to raise an eyebrow.

“For Abby again?” She asked with a smile, knowing that the other adored her birthday bouquet from how often Holtzmann mentioned her fawning over the dried flowers from it.

“No…for uh…someone I want to ask on a date.”

Alice’s heart dropped into the pit of her stomach though her smile thankfully didn’t follow. Of course she had someone she wanted to ask out. Holtzmann was a beautiful woman with a wicked mind and silly sense of humor, no doubt that appealed to more than just Alice. The nervousness of the other made sense now since most would get nervous about asking someone out.

“Anything in particular?”

“She likes blue. And knows the flower lingo.”

“I’m mentally suppressing you calling it that.”

Holtzmann gave a nervous laugh as Alice went back to her work table and started on the project, laying down blue paper and greenery she paused and looked over to a shifting Holtzmann.

“Any particular message you wanna convey?”

“Uhh….just about wanting to be given a chance? Maybe some mentions of love? I don’t know how it works, usually I do sciencey and geeky stuff but she is passionate about flowers, so....”

Alice nodded and started the bouquet, sighing softly and pushing down her own emotions. She wasn’t going to let her petty jealousy get in the way of making Holtzmann her bouquet. Asters and white violets made up the bulk of the bouquet with their symbols of love and a chance at happiness. Jonquil flowers and stock flowers followed carefully, since they meant desire and affection and needed a gentle hand. A few Forget-me-nots went in for their color and their meaning of growing affection. As a more private joke, and a test of character for whoever Holtzmann was bringing this to, she also slipped in some purple violets using their old meaning as a sign of womanly love. If the woman caught that then Alice could grudgingly accept her getting the flowers.

Folding the paper gently she wrapped a deeper blue ribbon around it, fingers tightening it into the perfect bow. There, even with her own turbulent emotions she hadn’t wrecked Holtzmann’s chance at getting the girl. Still smiling she brought it over to the other.

“There you go. One perfectly done ‘Please say yes’ bouquet.” Her cheeks were starting to hurt from keeping her smile up. “No charge this round. Just swing by some time and tell me if she said yes.”

Holtzmann’s nervous energy caused the flowers to tremble slightly but she nodded and gave Alice a tight smile before leaving out the door. Sighing Alice swiped her hands under her eyes and promised herself a good cry in the shower tonight. First she had to finish cleaning up and closing the shop down.

When the wind chimes rang out again and Holtzmann’s familiar squeaks hurried around the corner Alice turned, mouth open to ask what was wrong before the bouquet she just made got shoved into her face.

“I got these for you. I know I am probably not even your type and you have a lot better things to do than me. I am hoping you will at least give me a chance this Friday.”

Alice blinked in surprise, mouth still open as she looked at Holtzmann over the top of the flowers that still trembled in her grip. Taking the flowers gently she clicked her teeth together as she closed her mouth, silent for a moment thinking over what to say.

“This…is seriously the sweetest thing anyone has ever done.”

Her words seemed to freeze the other woman in her place, wide eyes unblinking at her from behind the yellow tinted lenses.

“I’m serious. Even before getting the shop the most romantic way I got asked out was through a Valentine’s day card.”

“Woah…no skill there. Uber lame choice, if it was spray painted on a building I would say good job… but sheesh.”

Alice laughed softly, still looking at the flowers. Even though she made it this was still the first time anyone got her a gift like this.

“So…uh…say yes, with cherries on top?”

Snapping out of her thoughts Alice laughed again and nodded. Holtzmann seemed to deflate at her nod, as if her nervous energy had been all that had kept her going.

“Tomorrow at eight?” Alice offered, settling the bouquet into her arms.

“Sounds awesomesause!”

Agreeing to meet at the shop Holtzmann almost bounced out of the shop. Shaking her head and laughing Alice set the bouquet down near her keys to remind her to take it home and got back to sweeping. Passing by one of the large windows she stopped and blinked as Holtzmann did a victory dance right outside her shop. Going to the door she opened it and called out, voice laughing into the city.

“I can still see you.”

“To happy to give a shit!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6 is probably gonna be longer then we're all used to in order to properly cover the date night,lol.


	6. Date Nights and Thunderstorms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two warnings  
> 1)This is gonna be a long chapter. Like mega longer then usual since I kinda word vomited in this chapter
> 
> 2)There is a sexual scene in this chapter. If you wish to skip it the moment they get to Alice's apartment stop reading. I will apologize beforehand since it may not be the most...stimulating scene, but I wrote it and I am proud of writing it.

Alice wondered if her current state was a sign the date was going to go bad or good.

She had gotten up early in order to pick an outfit for the date since she wouldn’t have time to rush back between closing and when Holtzmann was going to arrive. But right away, she faced a problem. The last time she dated she was still in high school and almost constantly in her school uniform. An overprotective mother meant she had an hour after the end of school to herself and that was typically spent with whoever she was dating at the time. 

When one didn’t change out of their school uniform to go on dates they tended to forget how to dress for one years later.

So now her usually neat bedroom was covered in clothes she pulled from her closet and then tossed aside as a ‘no’. Peach and Bowser laid on her bed watching her, or rather listening to her in Bowser’s case since he was both blind and currently covered by one of her dresses. Sighing in frustration she ran her fingers through her hair, tugging at the pastel locks as she stared into the dwindling supplies of clothing. Part of her now missed the simplicity of just wearing her school uniform and calling it good. Granted even if she was willing to put on the uniform it would look strange with her new hair and she swore she’d never go back to her original again. It was mud brown naturally and had been bowl cut throughout her school years in order to handle the fact it grew like a weed. 

The first thing she did once she moved into her own home was bleach it blonde and let it grow like mad. Now it was waist length and kept in order by weekly salon trips to keep the dye looking good and making sure she hadn’t fried herself with her home bleach job.

Turning back to her bed, and raising an eyebrow at finally noticing Bowser under her dress, Alice searched through the clothing again to see if anything on its second chance was good enough. A glance at her alarm clock told her she’d have to pick quickly if she wanted to open the shop on time. With another sigh of frustration, she picked at random and hurried to get dressed and yank her hair into some resemblance of style. 

In the end she was in a pink maxi skirt, which may or may not be the same one Holtzmann complimented her ass in, and a white crop top with her hair braided down her back. Since it was hitting fall, she also grabbed a jean jacket just in case it got cold out. The mess was kicked back into her closet and door shut against it to be dealt with another day. Taking the pups out for one last walk she knocked on her neighbor’s door to ask if one of them would swing by her shop later and get her Vespa home so she wouldn’t have to worry about it. With confirmation of that and the wife of the couple saying she’d take the dogs out for a walk around noon Alice headed off to work.

As the day progressed some of her regular customers made comments about her being nervous or excited about something. She brushed them off with a laugh but couldn’t help her head snapping up every time her door opened. Alice realized that Holtzmann probably wouldn’t come in until she was picking her up, but one could hope for an earlier visit. At two-ish her neighbor dropped his wife off and the two spent an hour chatting together before Alice handed over her keys so she could get home.

By closing she sighed and cleaned up the shop, planning on wasting time until Holtzmann was supposed to arrive and mentally kicking herself whenever her brain drifted to ‘What if she’s not coming?’. After yesterday’s display the main part of Alice’s mind doubted she’d be stood up, but the part of her mind that remembered being a freshman and being repeatedly shot down by girls she asked out still whispered in fear. With the mess cleaned up and sometime still left Alice settled into her chair behind her counter to get a head start on her orders and paperwork, figuring it was a better use of her time then pacing and waiting.

Alice got so involved in her laptop she didn’t hear the wind chimes or the familiar squeaks on the floor until a motorcycle helmet landed on her counter. Jumping she blinked up and saw Holtzmann standing there with a mad little smirk on her face. Glaring slightly she closed out her laptop and checked the clock. It was five past eight.

“I should say you’re late but I wasn’t paying attention.”

That got her a laugh as Alice stood from her counter and came around, picking up the motorcycle helmet when she noticed Holtzmann had one in her own hands. She took the moment to check her over, blushing slightly how attractive she looked in dark paint splattered skinny jeans, a red tank top and a black leather bike jacket with yellow tinted riding goggles covering her eyes. It almost made her feel a little silly in her pink skirt, but she pushed the thought down for now. As they headed to the door Holtzmann rushed ahead to open it with a silly bow, causing Alice to muffle a laugh behind her hand. Flipping the sign to ‘Closed’ she locked the door behind them and tested it out of habit she turned before turning and seeing why Holtzmann had given her a helmet.

It seemed both women enjoyed the wind in their hair but while Alice rode a powder blue Vespa Holtzmann drove a Harley. The cycle was a deep maroon color and a more vintage body style then what was currently out. Alice couldn’t help a low whistle as she examined the machine, feeling the smug air coming off of Holtzmann as she almost fawned over the motorcycle, or maybe that smug look came from the fact she had been staring at her ass before Alice turned back around.

The glare she gave was met only with more laughter, but Alice forgave it as she eagerly climbed onto the passenger seat as Holtzmann settled into the driver’s. Clipping her helmet on she steadied herself against the others back and tapped her hip to signal she was ready. The motorcycle roared to life and Holtzmann shot off, causing a small squeal to escape from Alice at the sudden acceleration and her to grab around the woman’s waist to balance herself. With the wind rushing through her ears she couldn’t hear her, but she felt Holtzmann’s side shaking in laughter.

Apparently Holtzmann liked to drive fast since she easily sped through the city, causing Alice’s skirts to flutter in the wind and her braid to dance behind them. She could see the looks on some people’s faces as they passed, some startled and others laughing at their appearance together and Alice’s windblown skirt. As they kept driving she noticed that Holtzmann had left the city and was now taking back roads somewhere, but the speed had slowed down which allowed Alice more time to look around them. The sun had been getting ready to set when they first started out on the drive, and by the time they arrived to wherever Holtzmann had decided their date would be it was dark enough to require the headlights.

The mad scientist looped the motorcycle around to what looked to be a deserted parking lot. Letting the bike idle for a few moments she finally turned it off and tugged Alice off as well. The hippie child was laughing softly, her hair was mess and half out if its braid and she had to frantically push her skirts down before she embarrassed herself. Holtzmann didn’t give her much time before tugging her to the railing that kept cars from going over the cliff and excitedly pointed out over the view. The city was neatly background by darkening clouds and the lights were all turning on, giving it a very picturesque look. Alice cooed at the sight, leaning into the railing as she looked out over the city.

“This is so pretty.”

“Eh. We’re prettier.”

Alice laughed at that, but didn’t argue. Both settled against the rail and another round of twenty questions started up as they looked out over the view. Alice learned of what Holtzmann did for a living, how she met Abby, and what it’s like knowing that there are ghosts out there. Holtzmann learned from her about growing up with an overprotective mother, about how her cousin Michael was her date for everything even if she had a partner at the time, and poked at her enough to get her to recount a rather embarrassing story of how Michael had to be her dance partner at a school tango competition.

Both of them used a pass on questions that were just to heavy for a first date. Holtzmann didn’t want to discuss where she was originally from and Alice still wasn’t ready to talk about her first girlfriend or boyfriend. There were mutters on both sides that the story wasn’t as bad as it sounded, it was just not something that want to talk about right now.

By the end of the conversation the two were leaning into each other, Alice tucked neatly into Holtzmann’s side and her face turned into the others neck. Every breath was filled with the scent of smoke and oddly enough men’s cologne. It made her more aware of the scent of dirt and flowers that clung to her like a perfume and she wondered if the smell bothered Holtzmann. Before she had a chance to even mention it Holtzmann turned her head and brushed her nose against Alice’s forehead, taking a breath before pulling away slightly and shifting to look at her easier.

“Can I ask a question?”

“Isn’t that the point of this?” Alice laughed tipping her head up to look at Holtzmann, eyebrow raised as she waited.

“Why….what was that?”

The strange turn in conversation caused Alice to blink in surprise before whatever caught Holtzmann’s attention finally announced itself. A sudden clap of thunder had her jumping out of her skin and turning her face skyward. A silent moment passed between them and just as Alice was about to announce it was probably dry thunder the skies opened on them.

Alice wasn’t ashamed to say she shrieked when cold rain suddenly poured down from the clouds. Holtzmann grabbed her hand and the two rushed back to the motorcycle. Tugging her helmet on Alice shouted directions on getting to her apartment. The ride down from the parking lot to her apartment was wet and by the time she directed Holtzmann into a guest spot in the covered garage both women were soaked. Shivering like mad Alice poked and prodded Holtzmann into her apartment to dry off.

Once the door clicked shut behind them Holtzmann and Alice broke down in laughter as they took in the others completely drenched state. Alice braced against the wall in her walk way as she laughed while Holtzmann was directly across from her. Pushing herself upright she was about to go get towels for the two of them when Holtzmann suddenly stood up and wrapped a hand around her neck, tugging her into a momentary kiss. Pulling away they blinked at each other, Holtzmann’s hand almost a brand on Alice’s neck due to the chill the rain had brought. It was Alice who moved forward then, pushing Holtzmann’s riding goggles out of her face and drawing the woman back into the kiss.

The moment their lips were against each other again Holtzmann surged forward and pinned Alice against the wall behind her. The suddenly weight against her chest caused Alice to gasp, giving the other ample room to slid her tongue into Alice’s mouth. The pastel haired woman melted into the kiss, arms coming up to wrap around her neck and hold Holtzmann into the kiss. She gasped again when burningly warm hands slipped up under her shirt and left trails of fire across her ribs.

Her back arched into Holtzmann as the others fingers darted up and she felt the woman palming her breasts through her bra. One of her hands stayed at Alice’s breast as the other ghosted to her back and unclipped her bra. It had been strapless since her crop top was off the shoulders so it easily fell to the floor at their feet. Alice’s own hands were busy pushing Holtzmann’s jacket to the floor with a wet thump as she moaned into the others mouth.

Apparently the feel of naked skin excited Holtzmann because she jerked Alice off of the wall and crushed her against her chest, hands desperately pulling at her top and ripping it enough it couldn’t hold itself on. Alice gave a muffled protest against the others lips as the fabric slipped to the floor, but Holtzmann quickly distracted her by trailing kisses down her neck and biting on the skin for a moment. While Alice couldn’t help the shot of arousal that went through her at the bite a startled laugh escaped her instead of a moan.

“You would be a biter.” She gasped out, feeling Holtzmann’s lips curve into a smirk against her skin. Another bite followed, this time by a long suck against her skin and Alice was sure she was going to be wearing a scarf tomorrow there was no way that wasn’t going to bruise.

Holtzmann’s lips drifted further down and Alice’s hands skittered to clutch at her head as her lips found her breasts just as her hands had before. Gasping as her breasts were sucked and nipped she didn’t notice her skirt being undone until her legs were exposed to the cool air of her apartment.

“Like I said, that skirt makes your ass look great. But it looks better with it on the floor.” It was silly that she would blush at the comment since she was now standing almost naked in front of a still dressed Holtzmann, but Alice couldn’t help her cheeks turning red.

“Bit unfair at the moment.” She commented to push away her blush, fingers plucking at the tank top the other still wore. The smirk Holtzmann gave her was absolutely filthy and caused another blush to fill her cheeks, but she stepped back and stripped off her shirt for Alice. The tank and her goggles were sent flying further into her apartment and Alice grabbed her back into a kiss. Walking backwards she lead the girl through her home, lightning flashes the only thing illuminating the halls as they moaned and grabbed at each other.

Apparently her dogs sensed something weird since neither of them were on her bed when she tripped backwards onto it. The fall broke the kiss and gave Alice time to move further up the bed, Holtzmann climbing onto it after her and growling slightly as she started to nip at Alice’s thighs and trailed her lips up higher.

The sight of Holtzmann peeling her underwear down with her teeth was almost too much to handle, paired with the look of fire in her eyes and the fact Alice’s hands had undone most of the updo Holtzmann usually kept her hair in the scientist looked positively wild at the moment. When she slipped back up and ran her tongue against Alice’s opening the woman’s head hit her pillows with a loud gasp. A brief thought of ‘What will the neighbors think?’ flashed into her head before her mind was completely shut down as Holtzmann’s tongue was joined by a few fingers.

“Holtz….please” Alice wasn’t a virgin to either gender, but with Holtzmann every touch felt new. As Holtzmann shifted into a more comfortable position between Alice’s legs she shifted them over the others shoulders and was rewarded by a long drag of Holtzmann’s tongue between her slit.

A thunderstorm was the perfect setting for tonight because Alice’s entire body felt electric. For the next moments all she was was a creature of sensation as Holtzmann played her body like a well tuned violin. Her heart beat was loud in her ears, but she could feel her throat vibrating with moans and begs as her hands spasmed uselessly near her head. She was able to refocus long enough to hear herself calling Holtzmann by her first name, and apparently that pleased the other woman because her fingers slipped further into Alice and hit a place that many have sought but none had found till now.

Alice’s body tense tighter and tighter as Holtzmann worked her, almost lifting off of the bed at one point as a probably rather loud moan escaped her when she hit something that just tripped all her buttons. A moment later her body fell into her bed as nothing more than goo, limp and unresponsive as she felt Holtzmann pull away from her and crawl up the mattress to lay next to her. It took a few heartbeats before Alice could move any part of herself, and even then it was only enough to tip her head to the side to look at Holtzmann.

Her voice came back slower than her neck muscles and she had to swallow a few times before she squeaked anything out.

“What about you?” It was unfair she was the only one who got off that night.

Holtzmann laughed and nuzzled their noses together, one hand coming up to brush through Alice’s hair which had completely wiggled free. The motion didn’t help keep Alice at the moment, sleep tugging at her eyelids as her body sank into an exhaustion she hadn’t felt in a long while.

“Just watching you was enough for me, Sexy”

“But” Alice was silenced by a kiss and another gentle brush through her hair. Holtzmann wiggled out of her pants and shoes, kicking them off the bed and found the blanket that had slipped off from Alice’s earlier motions. Spreading it out over them she pulled Alice into her arms and her steadier heartbeat lulled Alice further into sleep.

“We’ll call it debt. Pay me back later.”

Alice laughed into Holtzmann’s neck, one hand rubbing up and down the scientist’s back as the two laid curled together.

“Deal.”

With that both fell into an easy sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also if you ever wanna get in contact with me my tumblr url is the same as this one


	7. Morning Afters

Alice was usually good about being up before her dogs desperately needed to go out. They were both house trained by the time she got them but she always worried about accidents. But today she stayed asleep past her usual time due to last night’s activities and was woken up by a wet and very cold nose pushing itself into her lower spine. With a small squeak she rolled and blinked bleary eyes at Bowser who gave a few whines and almost danced in place.

“I’m sorry puppy.” Wiggling out of Holtzmann’s arms was a task that was probably better suited for a more awake mind, but Alice didn’t have time to wake up. She quickly grabbed a maxi dress from the mess in her closet and shrugged it on, pattering bare foot into her living room to grab their leashes and take the pups out for their morning walk. The cold morning air woke her up a little more and she instantly became aware of several bites on her neck that were stinging and a weird throb from her left thigh that she would have to check out once they were back in her house. Peach was giving her an evil look for bringing a stranger into the apartment, but Alice’s mind was still a little gooey from last night.

All three of them were shivering by the time they got back into the apartment and once off the leash the two dogs raced into the bedroom and probably jumped into bed with Holtzmann to warm up. Alice should’ve chased them off, but her attention was now focused on the mess that trailed from her front door back to her bedroom. Sighing softly Alice picked up the clothing that littered her floor. The shirt Holtzmann had ripped was tossed into the trash and she threw the rest of the clothing into the dryer, minus Holtzmann’s jacket which was left on the dryer. Thankfully her apartment was wood floored otherwise there would be a smell in her apartment that wouldn’t go away. She took a moment to peek into her bedroom and saw Bowser and Peach curled against a still fast asleep Holtzmann.

With the mess cleaned up she took care of Mario who gave her a few happy whistles as she filled his food and water dishes and gave him a few scratches. Leaving his cover off she wandered into the kitchen to start breakfast for the two of them. Since leaving her home Alice had taught herself how to cook most meals, not wanting to get dependent on takeout and fast food. While she wasn’t restaurant quality yet it still felt nice to be able to cook for herself and any company she might have over. Part of her did feel a little housewifely, cooking up breakfast after a rather fun night while her partner slept in late with the dogs. It wasn’t a thing she had wanted when she first got the apartment, but at the moment she felt rather warm thinking about it.

Since her mind was still rolling around what happened last night Alice decided to keep breakfast simple. Scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and coffee were things she could cook blindfolded so they would work. Grabbing the frying pans she set up the three to warm up, oil in two and butter in one. As they heated up she started the coffee pot and grabbed plates out for the both of them. She didn’t have a dining room so she set the plates on the living room table. When the pans were heated up she started cooking, humming happily to herself as the sounds and smells of breakfast started filling her apartment.

Apparently two dogs jumping into bed with their cold bodies wasn’t enough to wake Holtzmann up but bacon popping in a frying pan dragged her out from her deep sleep. Without her boots on the other woman didn’t squeak as she walked so Alice only noticed she was awake when a still nude body pressed against her back and thin arms wrapped around her waist. Laughing softly she tipped her head to the side as Holtzmann nuzzled into her neck and leaned heavily into her. Neither of them said anything for a while, Holtzmann settled against her as Alice cooked up their breakfast.

It was probably one of the more romantic moments of Alice’s life, and it was shattered by the blaring of the opening chords of ‘Down Under’ from her laundry room. Thankfully she had let go of the frying pan filled with oil and bacon before that otherwise there would’ve been an emergency room visit for one of them. Holtzmann groaned softly into her neck before carefully pushing away and following the sound. When she started talking in her laundry room Alice realized it must’ve been her cellphone.

“What’s going on?......Now? It’s supposed to be my day off.”

At those words Alice quickly grabbed a lunch box she used for days when she went to flower shows and a thermos used on cold days. The food was done cooking so she carefully spooned a good chunk of it into various tupperware containers for Holtzmann. The coffee was poured into the thermos and she grabbed an empty water bottle from her cabinet and filled it with milk. Tucking everything into the lunch box she also put in some sweeteners since she didn’t know if Holtzmann preferred those over sugar. Making sure everything was tightened on the thermos and that the lunch box was fully closed she turned off the stove and turned to the doorway of her kitchen.

While she had been busy packing up some of the breakfast Holtzmann had wandered around and found her clothing still talking on her cellphone. Apparently whatever required her attention couldn’t wait because she finally agreed to come in. Just as Holtzmann came back into the kitchen Alice held out the lunchbox and thermos into her surprised face.

“Don’t apologize. I understand. Scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns in the lunch box, coffee in the thermos. I also put milk and sweeteners in the box since I don’t know how you take your coffee.”

Holtzmann blinked at her for a few moments before surging forward and pulling Alice into a deep kiss. If it hadn’t been for her not wanting to clean up a mess Alice was sure she would’ve dropped everything she was holding in a second. Her eyes fluttered shut and she moaned into Holtzmann’s mouth as the other cupped her face gently.

“Are you trying to make me love you?” Alice couldn’t help a giggle at the question, leaning forward for a moment to nuzzle Holtzmann’s nose.

“I want those back.” It was all Alice could think to say when Holtzmann took the offerings from her. That got her a laugh and another kiss.

“I’ll bring em back don’t worry….non-irradiated...”

Nodding slightly Alice followed after the woman to the garage, still barefoot since she hadn’t gone looking for her shoes yet. As she got on her motorcycle Alice stood near her, leaning in and kissing her before she could drive off.

“Be careful Holtz. The roads are gonna be hellish.”

“I’ll be careful. And…you can call me Jillian if yah like.”

“You sure?”

“Wouldn’t offer it if I wasn’t.”

Alice chuckled softly at that and stepped out of the way so Jillian could pull out of the parking spot and take off down the road. She waited until she couldn’t see her anymore before heading back into the apartment to get fully dressed.

Going into her bathroom she checked her neck and sighed at the sight of it. A neat set of teeth marks was on one side of her neck and a very impressive hickey was on the other side. She was gonna have to wear a scarf around her neck to hide this otherwise there would be a lot of comments. Alice wasn’t fond of things around her neck so this was going to be annoying today. She also checked why her thigh had been throbbing and found finger bruises from Jillian apparently holding her tightly.

Thankfully the marks were low enough on her neck she didn’t have to wear it tight around her throat. Digging through her mess and promising she’d clean up when she got home that afternoon she found a rose patterned scarf that she probably got as a gift from someone in her family. Tying it around her neck she also grabbed a pair of underwear and slipped them on under her dress. A pair of slip on’s finished it and she ate her own breakfast in the living room with the pets, cleaning up the mess afterwards before taking the pups on one last walk before lunch.

Despite hiding her lovely new marks many of her regulars guessed that something had happened last night. They teased and prodded but she didn’t answer their questions, simply laughing and waving them away. Her orders were filled easily and it wouldn’t be unfair to say that Alice spent a good chunk of the morning and afternoon positively walking on air. At about one her cell started buzzing like mad, confusing her since no one typically texted her while she worked.

Picking it up she saw the text was from Jillian…. despite neither of them having exchanged numbers.

_‘I know you’ve been thinking about doing me all day ;)’_

Alice laughed softly and typed back quickly, wondering when the other had time to put herself into her contacts.

_‘Aren’t you cocky?’_

For the next hour the two texted back and forth, mostly just little flirts that made Alice giggle. She should’ve realized Jillian had something up her sleeve.

_‘I can’t concentrate for shit rn.’_

_‘Oh?’_

_‘My ears are still ringing from you screaming my name’_

That text caused Alice to blush bright enough she could feel the heat of it radiating off of her cheeks and nearly drop her phone when someone entered her shop. Quickly shutting the screen off she pretended she wasn’t blushing as she dealt with her customer. The elder woman gave her a look that read she knew what had been happening and wasn’t too pleased with it so Alice gave her best ‘sorry teacher’ look she developed in high school.

It took about fifteen minutes to get what the woman wanted, but she easily sent her out with a smile before rushing back to her phone. During her silence Jillian had texted her again.

_‘Did I kill you?’_

_‘Nearly!’_

While she was nowhere near Jillian Alice swore she could hear the woman cackling like mad. She sent her a series of frowny faces before going back to her work.

At the end of the night Alice locked up her shop and headed home, planning on a long shower and ordering a pizza to reward herself for a rather eventual week.

The entire apartment smelled like steam and her honey scented shampoo by the end of her shower, something Alice quite enjoyed. Ordering the pizza on her laptop she went into the kitchen to finish the dishes from that morning. It didn’t take her to long, so when someone started knocking on her door she looked at the clock in confusion.

“There is no way it’s here already.” She muttered to herself, jogging to the door and opening it quickly. It wasn’t pizza waiting for her but instead a rather surprised Jillian.

“Miss me that much?”

Alice smiled and shook her head. “I’m waiting for pizza, and thought you were it.”

“I’m far better than pizza.”

“That’s debatable.”

Jillian laughed now and held up the lunchbox and thermos she had borrowed that morning.

“I brought these back.”

Taking them from her Alice tossed them on her kitchen counter and came back to the door.  
“Do you wanna come in?”

“Nah…I better get back to my own apartment or Einstein will get mad and escape again.”

Alice nodded, trying not to let her disappointment show as she waved bye to Jillian. Closing the door she headed back to her couch. Not two steps away from the door it was knocked on again and this time Alice had a feeling she knew what it was. Throwing it open she pulled Jillian into a kiss and tugged her into her apartment. The other kicked her door shut behind her and started pushing her towards the couch.

The two women fell onto the piece of furniture with some laughter before it got smothered by more kisses. Hands were pushed under shirts and soon the only noise in the apartment was their heavy breathing and kisses. Jillian’s mouth trailed off to Alice’s neck again, which is where she bit down in surprise when her door was knocked on again.

Slapping a hand over her mouth to keep from scaring the person at the door Alice laughed and blinked at Jillian.

“I wasn’t kidding about ordering pizza.”

The poor pizza man had to knock again as both women broke down into laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nearly 700 hits....excuse me while I faint.
> 
> Also thedragoninthesnow is my beta, the person who makes sure Jillian's dialogue works and will be posting the companion piece to this which will be told through Jillian's POV instead of Alice's.
> 
> Also also if we made an ask blog for Alice and the Ghostbuster crew would ya'll enjoy that?


	8. Deep Cleaning and Deep Talks

Sadly after pizza Jillian did have to leave for her own apartment, Alice walked her to her motorcycle again and gave another kiss goodnight before cleaning up her apartment and headed to bed herself.

Since it was the last Sunday of the month she was going to have to do deep cleaning to get anything that was missed throughout the other Sundays. Alice dressed in her rattiest shorts and shirt so that nothing she honestly cared about would get wrecked. Once at the shop she locked the door behind her and got to work on her paperwork since she knew she’d be too tired to do it after doing the cleaning. Thankfully her habit of doing paperwork during downtime at the shop meant she only had a few orders to place for new vases and foam along with doing her account for the month to make sure she was still doing good with the shop.

Standing from her counter she groaning low in her throat and stretched, feeling her bones pop and roll before she settled again and went to her radio. Tuning to the rock station again Alice tugged her hair up under a wrap to keep it out of her face. With that she set about moving the shelves around to clear the main space. While she was a pretty heavy cleaner throughout the weeks somethings just slid too far for her to reach until she completely moved everything. Grabbing the broom she set about sweeping up fallen leaves and broken flowers that managed to slip through the cracks and daily cleanings. Humming along with the music that pumped out she didn’t notice someone at her door until they started knocking.

Sighing softly she turned, ready to give her spiel about not being open and just there to do some cleaning when she noticed who it was.

“Good morning Miss Abby.”

Opening the door to the woman Alice noted that she looked like she was trying to keep a cross look on her face. Motioning for her to follow Alice lead the woman into her tea room that was kept in order to give people a quiet place to sit while she worked on their flowers. She had put on a pot of coffee for herself throughout the day so she at least had something to offer Abby.

“What can I do for you Miss Abby?” She asked, pouring both of them some coffee.

“What’s going on with you and Holtz?”

She shouldn’t be surprised that one of Jillian’s coworkers would eventually come to see what was going on. During high school her only real friend Janet would track down whoever she was dating at the time, no matter how quiet Alice kept the relationship, just to rattle their cages. Sitting on a seat across from Abby, Alice pulled a piece of her hair out from under its wrap and twisted it around her fingers a few times as she thought over her answer. Alice may have come out very openly when she was in her final year of high school and decided to burn as many bridges as possible but she didn’t know if Jillian was out.

“How much as she told you?” It was a baseline question.

“Yesterday she came in blasting the Lonely Islands ‘I just had sex’ on loop for the entire day, and I mean the entire day. From the second she walked in, til the second she walked out. Claimed it was revenge for ruining her morning after with you.”

Alice couldn’t decide if the proper response to learning that was to laugh or blush, so she did both. Clapping a hand over her mouth she muffled her laughter and looked away from Abby as she tried to calm herself down.

“I feel like I should apologize.”

“Don’t. I’ve known Holtz for years, I really should’ve expected it. I’m just wondering since well…” Abby’s hand came up and motioned to the shop around them and to Alice herself.

“I’m the furthest thing from Jillian one can get?”

This time Abby laughed and nodded.

“I mean nuclear scientist and floral shop owner are kinda weird things to mingle. Don’t get me wrong, your shop is probably as hard to manage as our business is. But….it’s just weird for Holtz for have someone outside the business.”

“Really? Jillian seems like a friendly woman I can’t imagine her having a hard time making friends.”

“No she is friendly it’s just…..well you’ve been around her. She’s very energetic and very outgoing and some people can’t handle that. Meanwhile you apparently like that enough to have slept with her.”

Alice just blushed this time, scratching her bottom lip and looking away from Abby again. It was true. Jillian was this unending font of energy compared to Alice’s slower manner. But that had been what Alice first started to like about Jillian when the woman sat on the stool and talked to her while she worked. She was a burst of energy that Alice hadn’t had since her first year of high school and meeting Janet. And with Janet that energy settled into a loop with each other, neither pushing against what they were supposed to do. Both during high school accepted their roles as the daughters of rich parents and didn’t fight it.

But Jillian….

“It’s difficult to put into words. You’re right we’re vastly different. She’s smart, funny, outgoing. Everything I wished I was in high school.”

“I think we all wished we were like that in high school.” Abby said, spooning sugar into the coffee Alice had poured for her.

“True. She’s just this life of everything. Even when she came in tired she was still there enough to talk to me instead of nod off. Growing up with people who were so self-interested I never had someone just sit there and talk to me. Even my friend Janet never wanted to sit and talk. And much less about whatever I was interested in”

Abby nodded slightly, giving Alice a look of pure understanding. It made the other wonder what her high school experience had been like.

“Jillian is just…everything I wanted when I first realized I liked girls in a manner other than friend and everything I was so sure I wouldn’t find.”

“Do you love her?”

“I don’t know.”

Her answer seemed to surprise Abby since the woman jerked slightly and raised her eyebrows at her.

“I’ve felt like I loved someone before and the relationship crashed so hard I wasn’t sure I would ever recover. I don’t want to jinx what Jillian and I have by claiming it as love. It’s….it’s like a thunder storm.” Alice laughed at that for a moment, shaking her head. “Right now it’s the light and sound show and flashes of heat and electricity that make me feel tingly and more alive than ever. But…when it dies down. When the storm ends….I don’t know what’s going to be there. Thunderstorms can either be this life giving force or start a wildfire and just devastate.”

Abby nodded and set her cup down, reaching out to grasp Alice’s hand gently. The other returned the grip and gave her a small smile.

“I probably don’t make much sense.”

“No no you do! I perfectly understand.” Abby’s grip tightened for a moment and she smiled. “I get it. It’s understandable that you wanna take it…well not slow but also not at a rush. I think it’s sweet.”

Alice laughed softly and lifted her free hand to swipe under her eyes.

“I’ve known Holtz for a while. Trust me the slow relationship is probably the best approach for her. She’s been burned in the past I’m guessing just as much as you. But I do know something. Since…oh about three weeks ago Holtz has been coming into the fire station every day with the biggest smile on her face. Like bigger than I’ve seen her do in a long while, which is saying something.”

The two sat together for a while after that, until Alice mentioned she had to get her cleaning done. Abby jumped on that and offered to help and wouldn’t take no for an answer. So they both set to work sweeping and mopping up the store, talking about whatever popped into their heads. The discussion jumped from favorite colors, to foods, to just random tidbits about living in New York with the knowledge of ghosts. While Alice hadn’t seen one yet she couldn’t refute the amount of science that Abby and Jillian spoke of whenever the subject of ghosts came up. Abby even had a copy of the book she and Erin had published and gave it to Alice to read.

With the shop cleaned up Alice headed into the back room to clean up the flowers that had been left in the back cooler, showing Abby how to tell when certain flowers were dying and wouldn’t make it through the week. The woman seemed glad to be learning more about her friend’s new date, and every so often Alice would notice she stopped and was watching her closely. Those moments caused her to blush slightly as she wondered what Abby was thinking about. Soon enough Alice’s shop chores were over and the two had spent nearly the entire day talk and cleaning.

“Wow…that actually went quicker than it normally does.” Alice laughed, stretching out her arms and picking a piece of leaf from her elbow where it had hidden. Abby had flopped into her counter chair and was laughing as well.

“That’s what happens when you got muscles on your side.” Abby flexed from where she was sitting and Alice shook her head slightly, tying up the trash bags they had filled during the cleanup.

“True. If you’re hungry there’s a few quick stops around here. My treat since I kind of held you hostage for a long while.”

Abby waved her hand idly as she stood up, coming over to Alice who was carrying the trash bags to the door so she could toss them into the dumpster on her way out.

“Only if you know a Chinese place that has a decent wonton soup.”

“One down the street and if you’re really that picky about it I know how to make it.”

That caused Abby to freeze and stare at Alice for a moment.

“What?”

“Why didn’t Holtz meet you sooner?”

Laughing at that Alice grabbed the bags and carried them out the door to the dumpster. Abby closed the door behind them and Alice jogged back to lock it up. The other woman thankfully didn’t say anything as she tested the door to make sure it was locked.

“Come on, let’s go get you some wonton soup.”

Abby wrapped one of her arms around Alice’s and the two started to walk together.

“I do have an idea on how the thunderstorm is gonna end you know.”

“Oh?” Alice blinked at Abby, eyebrow raised.

“Jillian’s been in your shop almost everyday for the last month.”

“Yeah?”

“She’s got a pollen allergy.”

“…..She’s got a what?!”


	9. Conversations with Paris and Home

“So what’s their name?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Yesterday’s conversation with Abby put Alice in a mood for the rest of the night and most of this morning. Janet was in Paris with her dad for a year and had left two months ago. The two of them had met in Advanced English their freshman year and had become inseparable for the next nine. Janet had been the first person who honestly talked to Alice as Alice, not as the daughter of Maurice and Helen Campbell famed lawyers of New York.

Granted Janet’s father didn’t support the Mayor and Alice’s did so maybe that’s why she never seemed impressed by Alice’s parents.

Even with their parents being on the opposite sides of the political race the girls were close enough some who didn’t know them thought they were sisters. Though mostly because of how much they clung to each other.

The two girls were night and day to each other physically. Janet was blonde with almost hip length hair almost always styled in curls or braids with the most stunning blue eyes. And while Alice’s confidence could be described as non-existent in high school Janet never had that problem. She was the one who prodded Alice into dating despite her mother’s orders not to, and while half her relationships bombed Alice couldn’t say she wasn’t happy Janet pushed her into it.

So with Janet firmly in her mind Alice decided to ring the woman up and see how Paris was.

“You sound happy Allie. Like seriously happy. Last time I heard you talking like this you and Michelle had just broken up and I had gotten you drunk.”

Alice winced slightly at the mention. She and Michelle were both daughters of lawyers and had figured that dating each other was perfect since the other would understand what they were going through. But where Alice had apparently always been a mellow and hard to anger child Michelle was high strung and irritable no matter what happened. She always made demands of Alice that she knew the other girl couldn’t do either due to her parents expecting her home at that time or her not being willing to skip class just to go to the mall. When Michelle finally demanded Alice come out to her parents despite she herself having no plan on telling her father she was dating a girl Alice’s usually dormant temper came to a head and they had a meltdown in Math. Both girls got suspended for a week and while no one knew why they were arguing so badly they were given strict orders not to speak to each other again.

Janet snuck into Alice’s room the night after the fight and got her blitzed and let her cry into her arms. Alice was sure that night, in the way only drunken teenagers could be, that her heart would never mend and she’d be alone forever.

“I never did pay you back for that bottle did I?”

“It was fifty bucks Allie. I can handle that. And don’t change the subject who are they?”

Alice hummed softly, trying to figure out how to get out of this conversation.

“Don’t ‘hmm’ at me. I’m on a completely different continent and I bet you a bottle of Cristal that you’re currently flat on your back on your floor with your legs up on the couch and wearing nothing but an oversized T-shirt. Something you only do when you’re happy.”

“…..Rosé or no?”

“Ha! Now cough up the name.”

“Holtzmann.”

“What kind of a name is that?”

“You know my mom asked the exact same question.”

Janet made retching sounds over the phone. She was as much of a fan of Alice’s mom as Alice was.

“She’s….well it’s hard to explain.”

“Is she someone I’m ever gonna meet?”

“If we’re still going in a year’s time yeah. I wouldn’t pick between the two of you”

“Good. So giving girls another go?”

“I didn’t plan on it. She just….she came into the shop and apparently decided to follow me home.”

“Not literally I hope.”

“Oh no. That didn’t happen for a couple weeks.”

“Minx.”

The two laughed and the discussion fell into what was going on in both of their lives at the moment. Janet was enjoying Paris but because she had gone there for family and not fun she was surrounded by aunts and cousins who constantly wanted attention. She complained about not being able to go impress some French boys since she had to cart around six or seven cousins as well.

By the fourth yawn from Alice Janet tutted.

“Bed sleepy.”

“Yeah yeah……I miss you Nettie.”

“I miss you to Allie Cat. I’ll be back before you know it.”

“Promise?”

“I have to come back. I wanna meet this Holtzmann since apparently you can’t find the words to describe her.”

Alice laughed at that. “Give your dad my love.”

Over the phone she heard Janet yell to her dad in French, both girls having studied it for a good chunk of their childhood and had helped form their bond. He was too far from Janet for her to hear him though so she’d have to wait for Janet to translate.

“He says he ‘loves you to Allie Cat. Now go to bed and be ready for the dawn’. He also says if I talk like I do with you around my Aunt Elizabeth I’m going to get my mouth washed.”

“Paris is making your dad weirder.”

“You’re telling me.”

Small goodbyes and a promise to talk again before Alice hung up the phone, laying on her floor and staring at the ceiling. She had never been separate for long from Janet since high school and the first month of her trip had been a weird kind of limbo. She kept working and kept going on, but felt like something had gotten cut off. Then Jillian waltzed through her shop door and Alice found herself forgetting her self-pity and instead being swept away by the raw energy Jillian seemed to almost glow in. Jillian didn’t completely erase the hole that Janet had left, but with her there it seemed like the hole was easier to ignore. Even her conversation with Janet tonight didn’t rip her a little when it ended, she was honestly happy the other was having a good time in Paris.

Alice was pulled from the down tilt her thoughts were turning by her phone suddenly blasting out a song she never put on it. Frowning in confusion she picked it up again and blinked at the incoming call. With a raised eyebrow she hit the answer button and held it to her ear.

“White and Nerdy? Really Jillian?”

“It is accurate as hell and you know it!”

“It is.” Alice laughed softly, feeling a warm thrum settle into her bones as she listened to Jillian bounce around her space. She wondered what the other had been working on before she decided to call.

“Sooo…..”

“So?”

“You free tomorrow night?”

“I usually am, yeah. Did you have something in mind?”

“Yeah, something epic!”

“Dork. Am I getting any hints?”

“Nooope.” Jillian’s laughter through the phone sent happy sparks up Alice’s spine. But even her happiness didn’t stop her body from yawning again.

“Were you going to bed Al?”

“Hm? Kinda. I’m lying on my living room floor with my feet propped so once I stand up all the blood is gonna rush from my head.”

“Always a fun sensation. Granted I would end up face first after pulling it if not careful… I always seem to at least.”

“Mm.” Alice carefully rolled onto her knees and stood up, wobbling in place when the blood did indeed rush from her head and made her dizzy. Once she was sure she wasn’t going to fall flat on her face she headed to her bedroom. “So are you picking me up tomorrow?”

“Actually could you come round the firehouse? I should be finished with my latest project in time for our date, but you never know.”

“No worries. It’ll be nice to actually meet the others.”

“You just wanna ask them about the flowers.”

“Maybe.” Climbing into her bed Alice curled up under her blankets as Bowser and Peach scampered in as well and made themselves comfortable. “Should I wear anything in particular tomorrow?”

“Whatever you don’t mind picking up the morning after if it even survives.”

Alice was too tired to blush so she just laughed.

“I’ll text you when I’m at the shop alright?”

“Alright. Sweet dreams Al.”

“Try to get some sleep Jillian.”

“... I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More backstory for Alice, and next chapter goes back to our favorite couple being cute


	10. Questions and Answers Unknown

Apparently when Alice wanted the day to speed by it decided to drag on. There were almost no customers which meant she had to fill her time up with nothing but cleaning and orders. And those were done before noon leaving her nothing to do. Her fingers itched to text Jillian but she didn’t want to bother the other when she was busy working on something new. Sighing she slumped over her counter and wished the day would pick up so she could leave.

When the clock finally clicked to closing Alice speed through her chores and quickly headed out to the firehouse. With it only being a five-minute walk she quickly arrived at doors and paused to smooth down her maxi dress and push her hair back into order. Once she was sure she was reasonably acceptable she walked into the firehouse and headed upstairs. Pausing on the first few stairs she stepped back down and looked at the reception desk that had been empty the last time she came through here. Now a man sat at it apparently completely unaware of her coming through. She blinked at him a few times before heading up to the second floor, figuring that someone would know who the hell he was.

Once in the lab again Alice looked around for one of the women, eyes landing on Jillian who was still busy working on whatever the project was. At first she wanted to go over and surprise her, but the sight of a soldering iron in Jillian’s hand stopped that thought cold. They were supposed to be going on a date, not to the emergency room.

“Hey girl!”

Alice turned and saw Abby coming over to her. Smiling softly she turned to face her instead of Jillian.

“Evening Miss Abby.”

“Just Abby, Miss makes it sound weird.”

Alice nodded slightly and glanced over to Jillian who was still hard at work on whatever it was.

“She’s gonna be busy for a couple more minutes. Come and meet the rest of the team.”

Following after Abby Alice waved at the remaining two women who glanced up to see who had come in.

“This is Erin and Patty. Girls you remember Alice from my birthday party.”

Both of them nodded and smiled to her as Alice gave a bobbing nod to them.

“Nice to meet you both.”

“You to baby. So you’re the one Holtzy’s been going mad for.”

Alice blushed slightly and scratched her bottom lip, looking away from the women slightly. This was the first time she got introduced to a date’s friends since she had to keep a lot of her relationships quiet for fear of it getting back to her mother.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

Patty laughed and clapped a hand on Alice’s shoulder, making the girl suddenly very aware of the height difference between the two.

“Baby she filled the bottom floor of the firehouse with the flowers she got from you just because she was in there every single day. What do you think she was getting the flowers for?”

“She claimed that you all were stealing them.”

There was a beat of silence between the four before Patty moved around Alice towards Jillian’s work desk. The other had thankfully put the soldering iron down when Patty got right up in her face.

“You wanna explain to me why you’re making us look bad to your girl Holtzy?” Patty was trying to keep a straight face but Alice could hear the tease in her tone.

As the others quickly rushed over Jillian seemed to try and back away from Patty just as the taller woman reached out and grabbed Jillian into a headlock, tugging her around the work table and in front of Alice. The pastel haired woman just blinked at the sight, wondering if these two were always like this.

“Now tell her what was going on.”

“When did you get in?”

Alice just laughed and shrugged “A few minutes ago.”

“Holtzy…”

“Alright alright! I needed an excuse to talk to you and didn’t want to seem like some kinda flower hoarder so it was easier to say they were stealing them.”

“I understand.” Alice laughed again, blushing slightly as Jillian fidgeted slightly under Patty’s glare.

“I was telling the truth about the weird vases getting stolen and Kevin knocking them over.”

“I haven’t met Kevin yet.”

“Really?” Erin spoke up, moving around Alice and headed to the stairs. “He should be at his desk.”

“Wait…the blond guy is Kevin?”

“Yes?”

“…I thought Kevin was a dog.”

The laughter that followed echoed in Alice’s ear for a long while, even after she and Jillian left the firehouse. They got on Jillian’s motorcycle again and headed out, Jillian pulling over part way through to blindfold Alice despite her protests. Apparently this was going to be a surprise. Without her sight Alice clung to Jillian’s waist as hard as she could, not wanting to go off because she didn’t lean properly. Through her arms and chest she could feel Jillian laughing slightly at her reaction but since she was driving Alice couldn’t pinch her.

Once they were off the motorcycle Jillian kept the blindfold on, now leading Alice by hand onto something that rocked under her feet. It took Alice a few moments to realize that it was a boat, making her wonder where the hell Jillian was taking her. The other stood behind Alice and wrapped her arms around her waist so she knew where she was, but between them it was silent for a long while. Off of the boat and into a closed location since Alice could no longer feel the wind around her.

“There’s a bunch of stairs here, be careful.” Jillian warned her, staying behind her to make sure Alice didn’t trip over her own feet while blindfolded. Alice tried to piece together where they were, but her mind was more focused on carefully climbing the steps as Jillian kept her balance with her hands on her hips. It was a long walk and Alice was starting to get a little dizzy from being unable to see but feeling her body get physically higher. Finally Jillian pulled her to a stop and started to undo the blindfold.

Blinking slightly as her eyes readjusted Alice looked out and was gifted with a panoramic view of New York city at night. Unlike the last time where the lights were just turning on this view had it completely lit up and twinkling like little stars in the distance. She gasped softly, stepping closer to the window so she could get a better view. Jillian returned to her position wrapped around her back, nuzzling into her neck as the two gazed out the window over the city.

“I gotta know something Al.”

“Hm?” Alice couldn’t drag her eyes from the view so she simply reached back and pet Jillian’s hair to show she was listening.

“What are we? Like are we friends, girlfriends, or just….”

“Screwing around?”

“Yeah….”

Alice was silent for a moment, still petting Jillian’s hair and looking out over the view. It was a fair enough question. While Alice was used to just going with the flow of life Jillian did strike her as someone who wanted hard answers or at least any answer she could get. Even with the ghosts Jillian had been looking for answers where most people said there wouldn’t be any. Sighing softly Alice took stock of her feelings, wondering what answer she could give and what she honestly felt. Memories of relationships that failed because neither party could vocalize what they were feeling. Alice didn’t want that to happen here. Taking a deep breath she nodded.

“I don’t know. At the moment I’d put it as just screwing around but…I’ve been in relationships like that and this doesn’t feel like that. And it doesn’t feel like we’re just friends”

Jillian’s grip tightened on her waist and Alice placed one hand gently on hers to calm her down.

“A lot…I mean a lot of my past relationships ended on a sour note or with a loud snap. I had to hide a lot of myself from my parents which meant burying my relationships so they’d never find out. It ended up hurting a lot of people, myself included.”

Sighing softly Alice turned in Jillian’s arms so she could see the woman, pushing the yellow tinted glasses out of her face so they were eye to eye.

“I don’t want to hurt you and I’m sick and tired of having to hide. But I’ve never been open in a relationship before and I’m scared I’m gonna do something stupid and piss you off.”

Jillian’s hand crept up and cupped her cheeks gently, giving her a small smile as she leaned in and pressed her forehead to Alice’s.

“I’m hard to upset Al. Plus I doubt there’s anything you could do to piss me off.”

“You’d be surprised. I’m the daughter of lawyers, we’re practically bred to get under people’s skins in the worst kind of way.”

That got a small laugh from Jillian and Alice leaned up to nuzzle their noses together softly. “I dunno…. You don't fit any of what gets under my skin.”

“I don’t know what we are. If I have to label it I’d prefer girlfriends over the rest. But…for now I just know I wanna be with you.”

At that Jillian leaned in and kissed her deeply, one hand staying on her face while the other went to her waist to hold them together. Alice moaned softly into the kiss and wrapped her arms around Jillian’s neck, shifting in her arms to lean back against the support beam near them. Jillian took the cue and pinned her against it, the chill of the metal causing Alice to gasp and press into her.

They were halfway through their make out session when Alice heard someone calling up, demanding to know who was there. Pulling away from the kiss she stared at Jillian with big eyes.

“Tell me you didn’t _sneak_ us in here!”

Jillian’s smile was wicked and she turned to the staircase.

“We can outrun him. Easy as cake.”

“Jillian!”


	11. Putting one's foot down

A life time as a lawyer’s kid taught Alice how to talk people down. Thankfully the security guard was an old romantic and didn’t give the girls too much hassle for being there after hours. Letting them off with a warning they took the last boat back to the mainland and got on Jillian’s motorcycle again. Before she started it she half turned to Alice.

“You gotta be into the shop early?”

“Benefit of being my own boss. I can come in late once or twice.”

Jillian laughed at that and started the bike, circling for a moment before she took off down a chosen path. Alice leaned into her as she drove, humming lowly as the city sped by them. By the fourth corner Alice realized Jillian wasn’t taking her back to her own apartment or the firehouse. Alice didn’t panic though; she knew Jillian wouldn’t be taking her someplace dangerous.  
Just apparently illegal places.

Despite being on the back of a motorcycle Alice started to drift off during the ride, leaning heavily into Jillian with a small yawn. By the time she started to honestly fall asleep against Jillian the woman pulled into a parking spot and turned off the bike.

Yawning again Alice slid off of the bike and shook her head slightly to wake up.

“Sleepy Al?”

“Mm.”

Laughing softly Jillian leaned forward and brushed her lips against Alice’s temple, arm going around her waist to hold her against her chest.

“Come on babe. Let’s get to bed then.”

With Alice wrapped in her arm Jillian lead her up a few stair cases and into an apartment. Despite sleepy eyes Alice looked around the apartment and noticed a series of colorful tubes that ran every which way and covered the entire length of the apartment’s living room. As she looked at the tubes something crawled by at a rapid pace, seemingly chasing nothing.

“Who?”

“Einstein.”

At the name the animal came running by again, this time stopping at an opening in the tunnels and poking their head out.

Apparently Einstein was an albino ferret.

“Hello there.” Alice said, blinking at him. Einstein just huffed and went back to racing around his tunnels. “I guess he doesn’t like me?”

“Einstein’s not a fan of anyone but me. Hell, he even bites Abby whenever she tries to pet him. Almost took a chunk outta Erin when she got too close, too.”

Alice laughed softly as Jillian tugged her from the living room and into her bedroom. Alice had been distracted by the tubes for a long moment and didn’t realize the mess that permeated almost every open space in the apartment. Nothing to the point of risking tripping over it, but there was a definite chaos to the home.

Once in the bedroom Jillian let Alice go so she could start digging through the wardrobe she had for night clothes for the two of them. Alice wobbled on her feet for a moment, yawning tiredly as her hands came up to start unbraiding her hair from the pigtails she had pulled it into that morning.

“Aha!” Jillian pulled out two night shirts and handed one to Alice before she started stripping down herself.

With a sleepy sound Alice unlaced her dress and let it crumple to the ground, almost smirking when Jillian started choking.

Maybe she should’ve warned her that Alice had forgone anything under the dress.

Still she was too sleepy at the moment to try anything so instead she simply pulled on the shirt Jillian had tossed her, climbing into the bed a moment later before burying herself under the covers.

“Just make yourself right at home.” Jillian laughed as she followed Alice into the bed.

“Mm. I’ll have a witty retort for you in the morning.” Alice said, curling into Jillian and nuzzling into her neck.

“Can’t wait” Jillian rested her nose in Alice’s hair as the two fell asleep.

Morning came and Alice’s internal alarm clock woke her up at dawn as always. Yawning she tried to wiggle out from Jillian’s arms, but unlike the last time she slept in the same bed as the woman Jillian decided to completely wrap herself around Alice making it impossible for her to leave. Sighing Alice relaxed into the embrace again, reaching up to stroke Jillian’s hair gently. Before she hadn’t bothered staying in the bed with Jillian since she had to let the dogs out and start breakfast.

Little scratching sounds brought her attention to the edge of the bed and little red eyes watching her. If it wasn’t for Mario pulling the same shit Alice may have been scared.

“Yes I’m sleeping in your mommy’s bed.” She said quietly so she didn’t wake Jillian up “Get used to it.”

Einstein’s eyes narrowed for a moment and he shuffled off. Alice thought that was the end of it until she saw her dress being dragged away.

“Hey!” Shooting upright she managed to yank herself out of Jillian’s arm and chase after the ferret and her dress. Yanking it from Einstein’s mouth as he scampered away she checked it over for holes or rips. From the bed she could hear slight laughter.

“I did warn you about your clothes surviving.”

“Yeah and after you ripped one of my shirts I thought you were talking about you.”

Jillian laughed again and sat up on the bed, watching Alice as she carefully folded her dress and set it up higher this time.

“Why are you even awake right now?”

“Habit. I used to get up early in high school since I would run to my friend’s Janet house so that my mom couldn’t take me to school.”

With her dress safe now Alice climbed back onto the bed and kneeled on it facing Jillian. Leaning forward she kissed her gently, one hand resting on her shoulder as she pressed into her. Jillian slowly laid back on the bed, her own hands coming up to tug Alice onto her as she returned the kiss. Now laying on top of Jillian Alice gave a little moan and her other hand came up and pushed itself into Jillian’s hair to hold her in place.

They laid together kissing and hands gently exploring each other for a long while before the opening chords to Strauss’s “Muttertändelei” started playing from where Alice had placed her dress. Sighing into the kiss she pulled away and glared at her clothing.

“Who?”

“My mother.” Alice couldn’t help the growl in her voice as she got off of Jillian and grabbed her dress, pulling her cell from a pocket in it. “Yes mother?” She questioned, not hiding her annoyance as she sat on the bed. Jillian moved and sat behind her, legs folding into her waist as her arms came around her shoulders and her chin rested on the top of her head.

“Open your door Alice.”

“I’m not home right now mother.”

There was a brief pause on the other side of the phone and Alice sighed as she mentally started counting down to the blow up. One hand went behind her to pet Jillian’s hip as she reached the final number.

“Where. Are. You?” Alice could almost swear she heard her mother hissing those words.

“With my partner.” Jillian tensed slightly at her words, but Alice kept petting her hip softly. There were choking sounds on the other side of the phone but Alice chose to ignore them.

“Ali-“

“You’ll meet them when I want you to. Not before. And I swear to god mother if I see a PI I will file a harassment suit.” Alice never put her foot down on her mother before, but last night’s conversation with Jillian made her realize she couldn’t make Jillian happy if she didn’t get her mother to back off. Plus, her mind was lagging half a step behind her mouth since it was still half asleep. “I’m happy. Either accept that or don’t call me back.”

Alice was breathing heavily as she hung up on her mom, Jillian’s arms constricting her chest movements which made her realize this. Taking a deep breath, she held it for a few moments before breathing out.

“Al?”

“I’m fine. Just….I didn’t intend to say any of that. Not right now.” Alice said and tossed her phone onto the bed. “But it’s probably for the best. My mom wields guilt like a weapon and at least over the phone I can hang up on her.”

Jillian moved so she could nuzzle into Alice’s neck, kissing gently as her hands stroked up and down her arms.

“You didn’t ha-“

“Yes I did.” Turning to Jillian Alice frowned and cupped her cheek. “I meant what I said last night. I want to be with you and I’m sick of hiding my relationships. She’ll learn to get over it.”

“So why just say ‘partner’ instead of ‘girlfriend’? I’m not pissed. Just curious at the word choice.”

“Because I wanted her to shut up and go home. Not faint in front of my door.”

Jillian’s laughed vibrated against her back and caused Alice to smile.

It was still early so the day had time to screw her over. But right now in Jillian’s arms she was happier than she had been in a long while.


	12. At least it'll be interesting

As a child Alice learned the importance of facial expressions in conversations and out of them. The wrong facial cue and someone could misread the entire thing you just said or rolling your eyes at something someone was saying could ruin a relationship. So she taught herself to repress her natural expressions when having a conversation with someone. 

By their second month as friends she and Janet were able to hold complete conversations through facial expressions alone once Janet was taught the same trick.

That trick of hers was coming in handy at the moment.

Alice had figured after shutting her mom down that day that she’d be dealing with a fight on a later date. And of course her mother chose that Sunday to come in and demand her talk. Alice was too tired from a sudden rush of orders the night before to argue with her so she opened the door and let her into the tea room. As they sat across from each other with their coffee Alice kept her face still so as not to let on to her annoyance, eyes pinned on the grey strands in her mother’s hair and ignoring her attempts to make eye contact.

“Alice….who is he?”

“Currently none of your business.”

“Alice! I’m your mother!”

“And I’m out of the house and paying my own taxes, something you promised me would be the key to not having to explain myself to you.”

Helen didn’t flinch away from her daughter, also trained to keep her facial expressions still. 

“I just want you to be safe.”

“I am safe. And happy.”

“You keep repeating that.”

“You don’t listen to me the first few times I say it.”

Now the two stared at each other from across the table, neither willing to back down. The tension broke when Helen’s phone went off and she stepped away to answer it. Alice took the moment to gather herself into order, hearing her mother arguing with someone over her phone.  
When Helen stepped back in she looked irritated.

“Your father needs me to help on a case.”

“I understand.”

“This conversation isn’t over Alice. I want to meet them at the Mayor’s gala next week.”

“I hate galas. And I’m doing the flowers for it, I don’t have time to go dress shopping.”

“You promised me you’d go to one a year. Well this is the one this year.”

Alice sighed softly and nodded, showing her mother out the door. Turning back to the shop she felt out of sorts and not in the right mind to clean up. Thankfully she had gotten her orders done before her mother came in. Pulling the wrap off of her hair she grabbed her keys and left the shop, feeling that one week without deep cleaning wouldn’t kill her shop. Locking and checking the door behind her she went to her Chinese restaurant and picked up some food for her and the girls at the firehouse. With the bags of food she headed there, pausing at the desk to drop a carton of fried rice and eggrolls on Kevin’s desk since she didn’t know what he would want.  
Heading up the stairs she paused to knock on an empty bit of table to catch the attention of Abby and Erin who were discussing something at the white board.

“Hey!” Alice said with a smile when they turned to her.

“Hey! We were just about to order!”

“Well I brought a lot of food. I’m not sure what everyone wanted beyond knowing that Abby wanted wonton soup.”

The three of them found an empty space so Alice could set the bags down and start unpacking the food she brought. The sounds of it brought Patty and Jillian out of hiding and Alice paused for a moment to give Jillian a kiss.

Once the food was doled out Alice was pulled into Jillian’s lap once she sat down. After their conversation that morning Jillian was making it a mission to help Alice get over her instinct to hide affection away. The first few times Jillian tugged her into her lap Alice tensed up as if she was expecting one of the others to start commenting about them. Nothing happened and by the third time Alice had settled and would just lean into Jillian.

“I’m not complaining Al, but you never show up on Sundays.”

“My mom came in to talk to me.”

“Oh hell.” Jillian nuzzled her neck softly, one hand petting her stomach. “Was it completely fire and brimstone hailing down horrid or just mildly scarring?”

“Mildly. More repeats of her usual argument and an order to bring you to the Mayor’s gala next week. Which I plan to ignore.”

“You’re not coming to the gala with us?”

“I…us?”

“Yeah us.” Abby laughed as she passed the two with a spoon for her soup. “We got invited since some of the Mayor’s voters got a little pissy and demanded we show up.”

“Galas are so boring though. And unless you know how to play the politics you’re gonna be confused.”

“All the more reason you should come, that way at least one of us knows what they’re saying.”  
Alice blinked at Abby for a few moments before sighing.

“Well...when you put it that way.”

Jillian laughed softly and tugged Alice tighter against her. Sighing again Alice settled into the embrace and hummed softly as she run her fingers over Jillian’s hand softly. After a few moments Jillian turned her hand over and the two laced their fingers together, Alice’s thumb brushing against the back of her hand gently.

“So do you have a dress for the gala?” Erin settled across from the couple as she spoke, an open carton of sweet and sour chicken in her hands along with a fork.

“I have one I wore for last year’s. Thankfully my weight hasn’t shifted so I can still fit into it. Since I don’t go to them often no one should really notice that it’s the same dress.” Alice sighed, fingers of her free hand going up to her hair and tugging some strands out of the ponytail it was in.

“So what’re ya really worried about babe?” Patty took the seat closest to them and butted Alice’s foot with her hand to get her attention.

“Lot of kids from my high school go to these things with their parents. I’m just twitchy about being faced with how badly I bombed my social life and repeating it now.”

“It can’t have been that bad.”

“Most at my school didn’t know I dated girls, and the guys I dated weren’t aware of it either. Well my school held our prom a week before graduation for the senior class, and I went with a guy I was dating. And it turned out I had dated his female cousin.” Alice had to stop talking for a moment as Jillian and Abby started laughing loudly. “They had different last names! Anyway, we were sitting at a table with everyone and he was going on about something stupid, not sports but something like politics. And he was being massively wrong. By this point I already knew I was going to be going to the floral shop once I graduated so I had nothing keeping me there or friends with them.”

“What happened?” Alice tipped her head back to Jillian and winced.

“I got fed up with him being stupid and told him to stuff it. When he started in that I better watch my tone with him otherwise he’d dump me, I got up and told him that he wouldn’t have to since I was dumping him. And that his cousin Lizzie was a better kisser and at least could get a girl off. After that I stormed off and went to an all-night café waiting for Janet to come pick me up after prom ended. By the next school day it was out over the entire school what I had said. But since it was a week before school ended no one bothered trying to talk to me about it. I started school with Janet as my only friend and ended it that way.”

There was silence for a brief moment before Jillian tugged at her hair to get attention.

“What color is the dress?”

“Interesting segue. Why?”

“Because it’s the easiest way to flaunt the fact we’re together?”

Alice paused and thought over that. Anyone with a brain would pick up on the probable reason for matching outfits which would mean no answering questions from them. Others would ask leaving her either having to answer them honestly or fumbling. And if she was honest the gala would be the safest place to tell anyone that she and Jillian were together. Her mother, ever the realist, wouldn’t be able to get vocal with them without being witnessed by a lot of people.

“Powder blue.”

“Of course it is.”

“Hey you can mock when you’re not wearing yellow tinted glasses.”

Jillian laughed at that, hiding her face into Alice’s neck though it did nothing for the sound. Alice sighed softly and tipped her head to the side so it rested against Jillian’s. Later she would probably be nervous about doing a second round of openly coming out to people, but the fact Jillian also wanted to brag about their relationship would help her calm down.

And hell this time the gala would actually be fun if for no other reason than seeing her mom go red and not being about to rant.


	13. Working and dressing up

Jillian stayed over that night since Alice warned her the next week was going to be the most hectic they’ve ever had. Alice had to go a massive push on orders and then spend the Friday and Saturday before the gala getting the pieces for it done and then most of Sunday was going to be spent putting everything in place. That meant she wasn’t going to have any personal time until Sunday night after they left the gala.

And Alice wasn’t wrong. The next week was the worst she did, the only thing that compared was Valentine’s Day. Every night she was back at her apartment aching from having to do all her orders in that day so that she could have Friday and Saturday empty. Thankfully her customers were more than willing to understand, though some made comments that usually she wasn’t this stressed about the galas. Alice just smiled and didn’t mention that she was always careful never to agree to flower a gala she was going to be at to save herself a stress level.

By Friday Alice was stressed enough to consider calling attending the gala off but bit her tongue against it when she called Jillian to give her a heads up to where she stood in terms of her work. She made the choice to go and she didn’t want to disappoint Jillian by backing out now. So she worked to make sure the centerpieces, standing vases, and everything else she was asked to make for the gala were the best she produced so no one could say her relationship with Jillian had affected her work.

Sunday morning was spent waking up earlier than she ever had to do her hair.

A downside to waist length hair was that it took a lot of time to make it look good. Sighing softly Alice soaked her hair down and set it in curlers. By the time she was back at the firehouse getting dressed for tonight it should be curled enough to do something with it instead of her usual braids. Wrapping the curlers under a scarf so they didn’t get knocked out while she worked Alice dressed in her cleaning clothes. They weren’t stuff she was usually seen in, but there were a lot of gala pieces and she was going to be going up and down ladders today to hang some pieces as well and she had no desire to rip one of her dresses or skirts while she worked.

The gala was being held at a large banquet hall and Alice was thankful for that since it meant a large garage. While she drove her Vespa for personal use she had a van that she used for large deliveries. Loading, driving and unloading took an hour and by the time she was ready to set up Alice swore she was going to sweat her curls out.

Sighing and popping her back and shoulders Alice started to lug the standing vases into place. The things were almost as tall as she was and filled with ivy falling over the sides and Delphinium standing tall and giving it even more height. There were three of them, two had to go by the doors and one on the stage. As she was pulling and setting things into place Alice could see the caterers and wait staff working as well, reminding her of when she was young and wondered what they did before galas started. Now she had been working alongside them for five years and realized just how much work went into an event where half of the people wouldn’t notice the details and the other half felt they were above giving anything in the way of recognition for it.

Sighing again Alice went to her floral pieces after getting the vases set up and gathered the centerpieces for the tables. These were simple ones, a glass vase with blades of long hair and white parrot tulips. Each of the tables had to get one, and since it was the Spring Gala everyone would be attending instead of just the more loyal to Mayor Bradley. The first and last galas were always the most crowded so there were a lot of tables.

Setting up was mostly done in silence, a few jokes passed between the wait staff and her but everyone was on edge. The Spring Gala and New Year’s Eve Party were the most hectic and the ones that made the most money. Alice may have been born a blue blood but she left that life as much as she could which meant she was subject to the will of her employers just as much as they were.

Speaking of her employers…

“Yoo hoo! Miss Campbell!” Alice sighed softly as Jennifer Lynch called up to her. She was sitting on a ladder hanging up a flower chandelier she had created for the gala.

“Good afternoon Ms. Jennifer” Alice said as she finished hooking the chandelier up. Rolling her wrist, she checked the time on her watch and hummed softly. “I’m just about finished. Just gotta clean up and then I’ll be out of the way.” She was thirty minutes ahead of schedule, but that was without having to rush and get ready to show back up in a dress. The Spring Gala started earlier than the rest.

“Oh don’t rush Miss Campbell! Everything looks so perfect! You really are magnificent at your job!” Jennifer’s smile stretched slightly and Alice remembered when she said the same thing to her mother about an insurance case against the Mayor’s nephew.

Now she wondered if that meant her mother bombed the case intentionally.

“Thank you Ms. Jennifer.” Climbing down the ladder Alice reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out the bill. “Here’s everything totaled up including delivery.”

“Oh of course!” Taking the bill away Jennifer quickly scratched out a check and handed it to her. “The Mayor is just going to love this. I can’t wait for tonight.”

“Agreed Ms. Jennifer.” Tucking the check into her pocket Alice nodded to Jennifer and stepped away to return the ladder and clean up the mess she had made. Jennifer went to see to the other staff, allowing Alice freedom to get her stuff together and pack her truck back up. Waving bye to the group she drove back to her shop and switched from the truck to her Vespa. Her dress had been in a folded bag along with the rest of what she planned to wear with the dress.

Once at the firehouse she unhooked her bag and headed upstairs to the second floor where three women were already in their outfits and finishing up the final touches.

“Don’t you all look gorgeous.” Alice said, giving them all a big smile. It was currently only Abby, Erin and Patty in sight, making her wonder where Jillian had wandered off to.

Erin was in a floor length ivory dress that was strapless and gathered at the waist, she left her hair down and only wore a simple gold bracelet. Abby was in a two-piece outfit; a pearly white top and a black tiered skirt that she paired with sparkly black bowtie on the shirt. Her hair was gathered into a bun and she wore two black stone rings and black stone earrings. Surprisingly she had chosen to wear contacts instead of her glasses. Patty was in a beautiful off the shoulder red dress which she wore a stunning diamond necklace with.

“And you look like a wreck baby.” Patty said honestly, taking in her ratty clothing, wrapped hair, and sweaty everything.

“Work. Had to finish setting up the Gala for tonight.” Alice sighed, shaking her head slightly. “This is why I never do the floral for the New Year’s Eve party. I attend one a year to make my mom happy and that’s the one I typically choose.”

“Because it’s the last of the year?” Alice smiled at Abby’s laughing question.

“Because two hours in everyone’s drunk and I can slip out.”

Leaving them to their laughter Alice dipped into the bathroom and started changing. Her dress was a floor length mermaid down in powder blue. It was halter topped like much of her clothing exposing her floral sleeve tattoos. The top half was covered in a pattern made to resemble flower buds as a personal joke for her. White ballet flats were worn under it since Alice hated heels with a passion and she carefully pulled her curlers out. Thankfully despite the sweat and heat her hair had taken a fairly curly structure white she gathered in the back with a simple hair clip. Simple pink lipstick and light blue eyeshadow and she decided she was done.

It was nowhere near the level of primping her mother used to make her do, but it was the fanciest she’d get all year.

Sighing softly she tucked her clothes into the bag and headed out of the bathroom. Jillian had apparently come back from wherever she was hiding and was talking to Abby at her work table. Alice paused for a moment to look her over.

Her hair was still styled up into its bun and pompadour and she still wore her yellow tinted glasses, but Jillian had changed out her usual outfit of ‘whatever I find’ for a light grey tuxedo with a white shirt, grey vest and a powder blue tie that was left undone. The jacket for it was draped across the back of the chair Jillian usually sat in and the pocket held a powder blue kerchief. Alice was surprised that Jillian had gone so far, having originally thought the other would simply find the nicest of her clothing that matched Alice’s dress color and wear that.

“Is it that you intend to wear it like that or you just haven’t tied it yet?” Alice asked as she stepped into the room fully and laid her bag into an empty chair.

Jillian turned with a smile to answer her and stopped dead. At first Alice worried she was freaked by seeing her all dressed up, but when Jillian pulled her glasses down and Alice saw the heat in her gaze she blushed deeply. Part of her wished she had at least put a little foundation on to lighten the color her cheeks just took.

Pretending like she wasn’t blushing Alice stepped up to Jillian and quickly did the tie up, using a trinity knot she favored during her school years. Tightening the knot she tucked the tie into the vest and smoothed the vest down.

“There.” Alice said, taking a step back but was stopped by Jillian’s arm snaking around her waist. Raising an eyebrow at her Alice’s only warning as to what was going to happen was a Cheshire cat grin that spread across Jillian’s lips. A quick jerk of a surprisingly strong arm and Jillian had Alice pinned against her chest.

“Come on lovebirds, we don’t got time for that!” Patty called, laughing softly at the jump Alice gave. Blushing again Alice tugged on Jillian’s arm and the two followed after the rest, both having an arm wrapped around each other’s waist.

“We’re taking the hearse?” Alice saw it one day and Abby had to explain why they used a hearse to get around.

“Yeah! We’re gonna arrive in style!” Jillian’s arm tightened around her waist as she laughed, nuzzling her nose against Alice’s cheek.

“Not sure how people are gonna react to the nuke on the car.” Abby’s voice was low but Alice caught it anyway.

“There’s a what on the car?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went through the formal clothing of the actresses and found what I felt best fit the characters.  
> Erin's dress is Kristen Wigg's BAFTA 2012 dress  
> Abby's outfit is Melissa McCarthy's Golden Globes 2015 outfit  
> Patty's dress is Leslie Jones' Ghostbuster's Red Carpet dress (I love that dress on her. Seriously it is stunning)  
> Jillian's is made up because I loved the idea.
> 
> Next chapter is gonna show off Alice's blue blood upbringing. Expect to be surprised


	14. Gala Dreams

Alice finally got into the hearse with the others, mostly because Patty pointed out that they were going to be late if she didn’t. Sitting in the passenger seat with Jillian driving she sighed softly and tapped her nail against her front teeth.

“Nervous Al?” One of Jillian’s hands came off the wheel and took Alice’s, squeezing gently.

“My mother is going to be there. I’d be nervous even if I wasn’t about to shove it into her face that I’m dating a woman.”

“You’re not really shoving it into her face Al.”

“You’re as subtle as a nuke Jill.”

That got a laugh from the group and another squeeze from Jillian. The rest of the drive was mostly passed with a few ghost stories, or rather work stories, shared by the Busters while Alice texted her mother to inform her that she was one her way with Holtzmann. The answer was slightly comforting, that Helen wasn’t there yet and was going to be late.

Once they got to the banquet hall the three in the back got out while Jillian and Alice stayed in the car to park it since Jillian didn’t trust the valet. Once the hearse was safely parked Jillian ran around to Alice’s door and helped her out. Linking arms the two headed to the front door where the other three were waiting and noted a suddenly very unhappy Abby.

“What’s happened?” Alice asked, leaning into Jillian’s side as they stopped with the group.

“Apparently we’re supposed to just sit at our table and not mingle.” Abby looked like she wanted to explode a little. “We’re here to show the voters we’re here but nothing more.”

“Hm.” Alice tipped her head slightly so it was resting against Jillian’s shoulder. “What about if they come talk to you?”

“We’re clear for that, but we can’t go meet them.”

“Then it won’t be any issue.”

Her comment got the others to look at her in confusion but Alice just smiled to them.

“Let’s go inside and I’ll show you.”

Inside they were directed to a table near the back, causing both Alice and Abby to have a slight eye twitch. Smoothing her dress down as the women sat down Alice gave Jillian a gentle kiss on the forehead.

“I’ll be back in a few moments.” She promised before heading to the groups of people that were hanging around. It had been a long while since she networked, but she remembered how to do so. Pausing for a moment she glanced around the groups to see who she should talk to first.

“Mr. Anderson!” She said happily, stepping to one of the groups. Anderson was a CEO who opposed the Mayor’s habit of trying to cover up things. He also had several of his business partners and his wife with him. “It’s lovely to see you.”

“Well I’ll be, little Alice Campbell.” Leaning in Alice gave him a kiss on the cheek, “You here with your cousin Alice?”

“My partner actually.” It came out in a bit of a rush, but Alice was determined not to hide.

“You married?”

Laughing Alice shook her head. “No, no! Dr. Holtzmann and I are only dating.”

Anderson and the partners raised an eyebrow slightly and he stepped forward “Holtzmann? As in the Ghostbuster Holtzmann?”

“Yes sir. She and the others are apparently not being allowed to mingle.” If the Mayor thought he was going to stop the group from getting attention Alice was more than happy to throw him under the bus. She gave a slightly sad smile to the group. “So I’m going around trying to get them some networking. It’s a bit unfair to ask them to not mingle after all they did.”

“I see…which table?”

Alice pointed the table out and watched as Anderson and two of his business partners went to talk to the women. Giving his wife a polite hug she moved on, searching for the next person. Her hand flexed slightly out of habit, used to holding Janet’s hand whenever she was doing ‘rounds’ like this. Janet and her usually did the networking for Janet’s dad since he felt the two of them needed the practice. It was a little weird doing it without her, so she clenched her hand into a fist in order to distract herself. She needed to focus on getting people over to Jillian’s table, not on her mopey self missing her friend.

With a steadying breath Alice did a few more rounds with various other people. She repeated the process of making sure they realized she was with the Ghostbusters and that the Mayor was making them sit at the table instead of mingling themselves. It wasn’t until the third person did Alice realize she was unknowingly focusing on people she knew didn’t get along with the current Mayor.

Maybe it was a bit of revenge for telling the girls to stay at their table.

One more circuit around the main floor and Alice was sure she managed to get everyone who wanted the current Mayor out. Sighing softly she stopped and examined the crowd that had gathered, checking for any familiar faces. As she looked around the crowd her eyes fell onto the table the Ghostbusters were at and noticed that some of the people she sent before were still there along with a number of people she hadn’t talked to.

Humming softly to herself Alice decided she did enough networking and headed back to the table, pausing only for a moment to pick up a glass of wine. As she got closer to the table she noticed Jillian was slouching slightly and had kicked her legs up into a spare chair while Abby and Erin entertained the people with the business talk. Patty was also talking to a few, focusing more on the group as a whole in her talks. Smiling at the sight she came around to Jillian.

“Bored?” Alice asked, settling herself into Jillian’s lap carefully so she didn’t spill her wine.

“Mm.” Pulling her closer Jillian nuzzled her face into Alice’s shoulder and sighed. “Better now.”

“Hm.” Alice teased softly, reaching up to pet Jillian’s hair gently as they sat together. A few of the people who came over to talk noticed the actions between the two but beyond a smile said nothing. Alice did wonder if they just didn’t care or if they found her mother’s eventually breakdown funny.

The two sat together and whispered to each other for a while before Alice’s attention was caught by the Mayor warmly greeting someone. Swallowing heavily, she saw her mother’s back along with her father. They were a bit later than they normally were which apparently had made Alice forget they were on their way at all. Sighing she rested her forehead against Jillian’s as she saw her mother looking around for her. Jennifer also looked around and noticed Alice before Helen did, face falling slightly when she noticed where Alice was.

Jillian blinked slightly at Alice’s actions before noticing they were being approached by a strange woman. Shifting to sit more upright with Alice in her lap she gave her a concerned look before Alice shook her head.

There was no stopping this.

“Alice.”

“Mother.”

Jillian’s arms tensed around Alice’s waist slightly, but Alice gently pet her arms to calm her down.

“Mother these are Dr. Yates, Dr. Gilbert, Miss Tolan and Dr. Holtzmann.” Alice had badgered their last names out so she could introduce them properly. At Jillian’s name her mother’s eyes narrowed. “Ladies this is my mother Helen Campbell.”

Helen ignored their greetings and stared at her daughter. “Get out of the doctor’s lap Alice.” Her voice was calm but Alice could see her eye twitching slightly.

“I’m perfectly comfortable and Holtzmann doesn’t seem to mind.”

“Nope!”

“And we’re not hurting anything.”

Helen gritted her teeth slightly and shifted into a firmer stance. “Alice be reasonable.”

“I am.”

The two stared each other off and the air grew tense around them. Alice felt her shoulders tensing back and one of her hands clenching into a fist. There was a low spark between them that indicated a fight. Helen took a breath as if she was going to start yelling, but the moment was broken on Alice’s part when Jillian shifted her legs and forced Alice to tip closer against her chest. Dipping her head slightly she started to whisper a song into Alice’s ear

“Baby I'm hot just like an oven, I need some lovin.” It took a moment for Alice to place the lyrics and when she did she started to giggle like mad. This upset her mother since it meant she had stopped paying attention to her.

“Alice!”

“What?”

Helen’s eye twitched again and Alice could hear her gritting her teeth “I want to talk to you alone.”

“That’s gonna have to wait,” Abby suddenly said, looking at her cell “We got a call.”

Alice blinked slightly as the others got up and ready to go, turning back to her mother she gave a smile “They’re my ride. I’ve got to go.”

Not giving her mother time to answer Alice slid off of Jillian’s lap and helped her up.

“Goodbye mother.” With that the group of women hurried off, Jillian and Alice leaning into each other and giggling like mad at her mother’s sputtering behind them.

After a few moments they were safely piled into the car, Abby driving this time with Erin in the front and Patty in the back with them. Leaning forward Alice gave Abby a critical eye.

“What’s the job?”

“There isn’t one. I just didn’t want a fight in such a pretty place.”

As they drove away the entire group fell into laughter.


	15. Crashing Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a rather intense argument between Alice and her mother in this chapter. It may trigger some feelings for people who've dealt with this situation before. If it does I apologize for doing so.

Abby was kind enough to let Jillian hit her apartment first before dropping both of them off at Alice’s apartment. Jillian had grabbed a change of clothes and Einstein so the ferret wouldn’t be lonely, though Alice worried how he was going to react to her pets.

“I’m glad to be out of there, it was like hell those last few minutes.” Jillian sighed as she set Einstein’s carrier cage down on Alice’s dresser.

“Agreed.” Alice sat on her bed and pulled her flats off, rolling her shoulders slightly. “Even without the Mayor being an ass like that I can’t stand being in Galas for long periods of time. Even as a kid I hated them. Granted then it was because they were boring.”

“Hm.” Jillian came over to the bed and flopped down, causing Alice to bounce slightly. “I gotta say though you look ah-mazing in that dress.” Leaning up she pressed gentle kisses into Alice’s shoulder.

“Thank you.” Alice laughed, kissing Jillian’s forehead. “But I’m still sweaty from this morning so I’m taking a shower.” With a low groan Alice got back up and pulled her hair piece out. “Can you unzip the back for me?”

“How’d you zip up in the first place?” The zipper was pulled down easily and Alice felt Jillian’s fingertips skate down her back as she pushed the dress open.

“Dental floss. It was a trick Janet taught me after one of her aunts taught her.”

“Mm.” Jillian stepped closer and gently slid Alice’s dress down, helping her step out of it.

Turning to face her Alice gave a little smirk and reached up to start undoing the buttons to Jillian’s vest before working on her tie. “Are you going to join me?”

Jillian just laughed and leaned forward to kiss her, arms coming around Alice’s waist. Alice humming happily into the kiss and wrapped her arms around Jillian’s neck and started to walk backwards to the bathroom. Once in the bathroom Alice’s hands started to undo Jillian’s shirt, tugging it off and letting it fall to the floor. Jillian slapped a hand on the wall to find the light, flicking it on as Alice undid her pants.

With a sudden heft Jillian lifted Alice off of the floor and set her on her bathroom counter, pulling away from her lips to start trailing her lips down her neck. Alice panted softly, tipping her head back as her hands came up to grip Jillian’s hair as the others hands came up and quickly undid her bra. Tossing it aside Jillian continued to trail her kisses further down Alice’s chest.

Just as Jillian pushed herself between Alice’s legs and pressed her hands against her back in order to get Alice to arch her chest slightly there was a loud pounding on her front door. Hissing through her teeth Alice glared out her bathroom door.

“Can’t we ignore it?” She said childishly, fingers wrapping around loose strands of Jillian’s hair.

“Only if it’s not who I think it is.”

Before Alice could ask for an explanation she suddenly heard her mother yelling for her to open the door. A rather nasty curse left her as she wiggled off of the counter, grabbing her bathrobe and yanking it on.

“Stay here or in the bedroom Jill. This is probably gonna get nasty.”

Shutting the bedroom door behind her Alice tied her bathrobe closed and went to her door, yanking it open angrily.

“What?” Years of practice were probably the only reason she didn’t hiss at the moment.

“Don’t take that tone with me.” Pushing her way in Helen glared at Alice as the girl closed the door behind her. “What was that stunt?”

“What stunt?”

“Parading yourself around with that group. Acting as if you were attracted to that woman?”

“Acting? You think I would pretend to be attracted to someone?”

“I don’t know _why_ you’re doing it of course, but obviously that’s what you’re doing.”

Alice’s fists clenched tightly and she moved away from her front door to try and muffle the noise from her neighbors. “Why the hell would I be acting?!”

“Don’t raise your voice to me! And there’s no possible way you’d find the woman attractive. I could tolerate it if you were attracted to women, but not that one.”

“Holtzmann has a name mother. And what do you mean ‘tolerate’?”

“I don’t care what her name is. And tolerate because if you think for an instance you’d be allowed to form a long term rela-“

“ _Allowed?!_ I’m a grown ass women mother! I can make my own choices!”

“Obviously not if you insist on this farce!”

“What?”

“This silly ‘Ghostbuster’ nonsense. I don’t know who these people think they are but I plan to end it.”

“Mayor Bradley obviously disagrees. He’s the one supporting them.”

Helen’s eyes narrowed before she sniffed disdainfully.

“Probably to appease the voters. And more to the point I can’t understand why you got yourself involved in this mess. Both the Ghostbusters and that woman.”

“She has a _name_.” Alice’s teeth were clenched and she finally started hissing her words.

“She is no matter to me or you. She has a _stink_ of lowlife on her and I will not, even as a game, allow you to stain yourself with her kind.”

Alice could feel her vein throbbing in her temple and nails digging into the palms of her hands. “I am not playing a _game_ mother. I am in a relationship with Holtzmann. We’re partners.”

Helen made a slight clucking sound and glared at her daughter “Then you’ll end it before she can spoil you.”

“Spoil? You’re acting like I’m a virgin.”

That caused her mother to rock a step back like she had been slapped. The glare intensified and now she was snarling at her daughter.

“I am going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“So you’re the one I learned that phrase from.”

Helen didn’t get what she meant and didn’t bother asking her to explain. “This isn’t the time to be stupid Alice. Many important people saw you tonight acting like you were involved with that woman! It was bad enough networking for her group, but then to sit in her _lap_.”

“She likes it when I do. Holtz is a cuddler.”

“ _Don’t_ speak about her as if you two are in love.”

“What if I was? Do you really think there’s anything you could do? I know the law mother, you made sure of it. You can’t do shit because everything you could do requires proof and you will never have any.”

“Don’t you swear at me young lady!” Helen grabbed at Alice’s arm, yanking her closer. “Do you think for a moment I will not _ruin_ that woman if I get even the inkling that you decided to throw your life away for her? Do you realize how badly you could have just ruined any marriage prospects?”

Jerking her arm away Alice returned her mother’s glares “Marriage? You think I’m going to go back to that world after running from it?! I don’t care who you chose and shove into my way, I will never agree to a marriage. I am happy where I am and who I’m with!”

The two were now inches from each other and Alice was breathing heavily while Helen looked like she had sucked on a lemon.

“You will end this. Tonight.”

“No. I. Won’t.”

“Either you end it or I will Alice. I am done pandering to your _fantasy_. Tomorrow you’re selling the flower shop and moving back home.”

“No I won’t!”

“Yes you will! This is no longer a debate Alice Campbell! You are coming back with me!”

“I am not going anywhere with you! I left that world to make sure I never became _you_!”

Alice’s parents never physically disciplined her, preferring to just lock her in a room. So she hadn’t been prepared when Helen raised her hand and slapped her across the face. Stumbling away from her mother Alice clapped a hand to her stinging cheek and blinked at her through suddenly tear filled eyes.

“Oi!” Jillian was suddenly in the room with them, fists clenched and glaring at her mother despite still being bare from the waist up and her pants still undone. Apparently Helen hadn’t realized Alice wasn’t alone since the woman jumped out of her skin and spun to face Jillian. Gaping slightly at the sight of her it took Helen a few moments before she regained herself and straightened her spine, looking between the two partners.

Sniffing again she swept a hand over her shoulder to push back hair that had fallen loose during the argument. “I see there is just no talking to you Alice. Fine. If you wish to throw your life away for this…thing I won’t stop your fall. Just realize there will be no one to run to when she ruins you.”

With that Helen left her apartment, slamming the door behind her. Alice took a few shuddering breaths, moving from where she had stumbled and into the kitchen. Jillian followed after her quickly, coming over to check her cheek herself.

“It’s gonna bruise something nasty.” Jillian hissed, moving her hands from Alice’s face to her side and gently pressing her close.

“The downside of soft skin.” Alice tried to joke, getting a kitchen towel and some ice.

“Mm.” Taking the wrapped ice from Alice Jillian lead her to the couch and sat down, pulling Alice down so her head was laying in her lap. “You going to be okay?”

“This was a long time coming…I’m not sure yet though. Ask me again in the morning.”

The two fell into silence as Jillian gently placed the ice against Alice’s cheek, ignoring the trembles that came from the girl as tears started to roll down her cheeks.


	16. A bit of sweetness

Jillian had been right. Her cheek bore a nasty bruise in the morning and Alice sighed as she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. After her mother left Alice and Jillian had showered and gone to bed, the mood completely ruined. Jillian was still asleep while Alice woke up to take the dogs out and start breakfast. Taking a deep breath, she left her bathroom and headed to the kitchen, starting on making oatmeal and pancakes today as a treat for herself.

As she cooked Alice came to the decision she was in no right mind to go to work today. Despite it only having been a slap her hands still shook as she cooked and there was an obvious tense in her shoulders. She wouldn’t be able to focus on her work at all today and that wouldn’t be fair to her customers.

With the food finished cooking she carefully plated and spooned out the food, leaving it on the kitchen counter before heading back to her bedroom. Jillian was still asleep and Alice’s dogs were curled up against her. Smiling softly Alice crawled into the bed with them, laying on top of Jillian and kissing her cheek gently.

“Wake up Jill, breakfast is done.” She purred softly

“Mm. Breakfast and you? Perfect morning.” Jillian’s arms came up and wrapped around Alice’s waist, holding her in place. “You okay?”

“Slightly.” When Jillian opened her eyes Alice held up a hand, showing she was still shaking. “I’m going to take the day off for work. I won’t be able to focus.”

Nodding slightly Jillian rolled them so Alice was tucked under her, one of her hands going to the nightstand and picked up her cell phone. Dialing from memory she tucked her phone against her ear and shoulder and leaned down to nuzzle her nose against Alice’s.

“Hey Abs. I’m gonna take off for the day. Nah, Alice’s mom came by and it got ugly. She’s good, just shaky. Mm hm, I’ll tell her.” Hanging up her cell she returned it to the nightstand and nuzzled her face into Alice’s neck. “Abby says she’s sorry about your mom and if you want she’ll adopt you.”

“I may take her up on that.” Alice’s arms reached up and wrapped around Jillian with a sigh. “You didn’t have to take the day off.”

“Yeah I did.” She sighed softly, leaning up to look down at Alice. “You had a hell night Al. What kinda girlfriend would I be if I left you alone after that? A bad one that is what.”

“Mm.” Leaning up Alice kissed Jillian gently before pushing at her shoulder. “Up. I made pancakes.”

“Pancakes? You spoil me so much!” She happily bounced off of Alice at that, standing up with a yawn and stretch. Alice followed after her, pausing for a moment to open Einstein’s carrier so the ferret could stretch his legs. Mario was already out of his cage and whistling happily at the sight of the two of them.

Handing Jillian a plate of pancakes Alice took a bowl of oatmeal for herself and went to sit on her couch. Jillian joined her a moment later after drowning the pancakes in syrup. The two ate in silence as Einstein came running out and kept running around her living room a few times, probably working off his energy from being locked in his cage. Once they finished eating Alice curled up against Jillian on the couch, nuzzled into her neck as Jillian’s hand rubbed her side.

“Hey, you up for going out?”

“Depends on where.” Alice tipped her head to look at Jillian with a raised eyebrow “And if it means I have to put cover up on.”

“Nah. Anyone stares I’ll just punch them.”

“My hero. Where?”

“A surprise. Come on and get dressed.”

Groaning slightly Alice got off of Jillian and the two headed back to the bedroom, changing into their clothing quickly. Alice wasn’t in the mood for a lot of movement so she just pulled a maxi dress on and tied her hair back in a simple ponytail. Her cheek was still sore and throbbed as she moved her mouth, but she was ignoring it. Jillian dressed as well and once they were both ready she caught Einstein and put him back in his carrier while Alice took care of Mario.

With the animals safely away Jillian took Alice’s hand and the two left the apartment. Jillian seemed to know where she wanted to go so Alice let her lead, leaning into her as they walked and gently rubbing her thumb against the back of Jillian’s hand. It was a long walk so the two amused themselves with people watching and comments about what their lives might’ve been like. The stories were light hearted and funny to keep their mood up.

Eventually they came across a carnival that Alice hadn’t realized was going on, but apparently Jillian knew about.

“Was this today’s plan?”

“I figured I’d take you here this weekend, but today seemed like a better time.” Jillian lead her to the ticket selling booth and got them in. Alice smiled softly seeing the carnival running.

“I only went a few of these as a kid. My dad hated them.”

“Sounds like an ass.”

“Mm. What do you want to do first?”

“Hmm.”

They wandered around together for a while, taking in the different game stalls that were set up and the rides. Eventually Jillian came to a stop in front of a game stall, one where you had to knock the bottles down.

“These things are rigged Jillian.”

“I know. But I always win.”

Sighing softly Alice followed her to the game stall. The worker gave them a smile as Jillian laid down a few dollars and got six baseballs.

“Knock down all the bottles and win a prize.”

“How many times do I gotta hit to get the giant teddy?”

“Gotta hit all six towers little lady.”

Jillian nodded and picked up the first baseball and reared her arm back. When she threw it and hit the bottles dead on Alice was expecting the tower to stay perfectly still. Instead it crumpled down and both Alice and the worker stared in shock. Jillian laughed and threw the remaining five balls, easily knocking down the towers.

“Damn.” The worker laughed, handing over the teddy. “Enjoy it girls.”

As they walked away from the game stall Jillian handed the teddy over to Alice, who eagerly clung to it.

“Like it?”

“I adore teddies.”

“Surprised you don’t have one then.”

“I do, but he’s currently in Paris with Janet.”

Jillian smiled softly and leaned over to gently kiss Alice’s forehead. “Well now you have a new teddy. And I’ll get you a sexier one later.”

That caused Alice to laugh, hiding her face in the bear. “Jillian!”

“I’m serious! You’d look good in one.”

Shaking her head Alice buried her face deeper into her new teddy’s fur. Jillian laughed and wrapped an arm around her waist to help direct her. The two of them wandered around the carnival some more, Jillian pausing every so often to show up another game stall and win something else. By the end Alice had two bead necklaces, a jelly bracelet and another teddy bear.

“How am I supposed to go on rides like this Jillian?”

“Well we’ll avoid anything you can’t take your new toys on.”

Sighing softly Alice shook her head slightly and smiled to Jillian as she directed Alice to a carousal. The two took one of the bench seats together as little child ran around them to hop onto the horses and other creatures. Humming softly Alice leaned into Jillian’s side, carefully nestling her bruised cheek against her shoulder.

The carousal ride was cute as the two leaned into each other and watched the children still rushing around even as the ride turned. After a few turns on it Jillian then lead her to the Ferris wheel, which did cause Alice to tense for a moment.

“Afraid of heights?”

“That and the fact I don’t trust these things sometimes.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

“Gravity always wins Jill.”

“One of these days it won’t”

Laughing at that Alice allowed herself to be herded into one of the lifts, though she pressed tightly against Jillian’s side once the door was closed. The other just hummed softly and wrapped her arm around Alice’s waist, holding her close. When it started Alice closed her eyes, burying her face into the giant teddy as the lift rocked under her as it moved. After a few stops and starts Jillian shook her gently.

“Come on, take a peek.”

Alice peeked her head up and looked out the lift, taking in the sight of a good chunk of her neighborhood from the top of the Ferris wheel.

“Okay…that is really pretty.”

Jillian laughed softly and Alice turned to her, leaning in and kissing her softly. Jillian returned the kiss quickly, one hand coming up to cup Alice’s thankfully unbruised cheek. The two sat in the lift, kissing slowly as the wheel turned again, only breaking apart when their lift door opened.

Reentering the carnival area Jillian’s arm was wound around Alice’s waist and the two wandered off to find something fun to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured we could all use some sweet moments after the last chapter


	17. Friends make it all better

Alice went back to work the next day, her bruise still bright on her cheek which caused concern among her customers. She answered honestly, that she had gotten into an argument with her mother. Many were understanding and those who knew her mom seemed upset in her favor instead of Helen’s. Halfway through the day and Alice had settled into the rhythm again of building up bouquets and other gifts, her hands moving steadily despite having spent most of yesterday shaking like mad. Humming softly to herself she was carefully clipping the thorns off a rose stem when the wind chimes tinkled loudly.

“Welcome to the Talking Garden! I’ll be with you in just a moment.”

“Take your time Allie.”

Alice didn’t even register the sound of her clippers hitting the table as she whipped around the shelf and almost threw herself into Janet’s arms. The usually fashion forward woman was dressed in a simple pink sheath dress with her blonde curls left down, a sign she had come to the shop from the airport since the only time Alice ever saw Janet like this was when she was flying.

“What are you doing here Nettie?” Alice asked, voice muffled from where she buried her face into Janet’s neck but she refused to unlock her arms from around her to move away.

“Papa heard from one of his assistants that your mom has been screaming her head off about disowning you. I couldn’t just leave you here to face that harpy alone could I?”

“I’m not really alone Nettie. I’ve got Holtzmann and her friends.”

Janet nodded slightly, her own arms locking around Alice. “What happened?”

“Mom learned Holtzmann is a woman and flipped.”

“And proved you right to Michelle.”

“I didn’t even think of that.”

Janet laughed softly and the two went to Alice’s work table so she could go back to her roses.

“So you and this Holtzmann. Is it love?”

“Mm. Could be. We’re just going with it for now and seeing where we end up.”

“Hm. Reasonable.”

“You disapprove?”

“I withhold judgement until I meet this woman. So when will that be?”

Laughing softly Alice clipped more thorns off of the roses. “Tomorrow? If you want.”

“Love it.”

The rest of the work day was done in laughter, Janet helping out around the shop or with the customers. Janet’s father was the CEO of a very popular jewelry store chain and Janet would one day be working in the stores herself so the woman often came to the shop to practice. It had been surprisingly forward thinking of Janet when she came in once and said she would work there for the day, showing a growth from the teenager who almost didn’t recognize Alice’s emotional collapse until she and Michelle were screaming at each other.

Locking the door, and spending ten minutes convincing Janet she wouldn’t crash the Vespa with a passenger, the two were in her apartment and Alice’s dogs were going nuts seeing Janet again. As Janet took a shower Alice cooked up a dinner of poached salmon and crispy potatoes. Janet adored fish and Alice always made her a dinner of it whenever she spent the night.

“Stealing a nightgown!”

“You always do!” The nightgowns were for Janet. Alice never wore them anymore.

As she finished cooking Janet came out of her bedroom in a deep purple nightgown, blonde curls wrapped up in a towel. As she sat on the couch and dug through her bag for something Alice went to her wine rack and pulled out a bottle of Oaked Chardonnay and her corkscrew. Opening the bottle she poured a glass for both of them and brought one out to Janet.

“You’re a doll.” Janet took the glass from her and went back to digging through her bag before making a happy sound and pulled out her makeup and hair bags. “Bringing the bottle out?”

“I don’t need a hangover tomorrow.” Alice laughed as she brought out the plates and her own cup of wine.

“This is true.”

The two ate as they watched the fashion show Janet had picked, both joking about the people on the show. After the night she had the day before last, falling back into this with Janet calmed her down more than she realized she had needed. A little spot of tension that had been hiding between her shoulder blades relaxed and Alice took a deep breath and when she exhaled the last of her shakiness went out with it.

Once dinner was eaten and the plates were soaking in the sink Janet poured them both a second cup of wine and sat Alice down between her legs. Quick fingers started to braid her hair into smaller strands then Alice could do on her own. Sighing softly at the gently tugging on her scalp Alice relaxed under Janet’s hands and let the woman work.

“Any news on how your father is taking this?”

“No.”

“Any idea?”

“Dad’s always seemed more ready whenever I did something that pissed her off. The only thing he argued against was me moving out.”

“Which you did at eighteen.”

“Yes.”

“So an understandable argument. And that was the only one.”

“Hm.”

“At least your dad seems to be the one who cares about what makes you happy.”

“Mm. He’s probably just listening to her bitch and threaten about me. In a couple of days he’ll call me and tell me what the plan is. Which is probably going to be not to contact her in a long while.”

“No loss there.”

Alice laughed softly as Janet kept doing her hair. After a few moments Janet tapped her shoulder and Alice hopped onto the couch with her, braided pigtails swinging in the movement. Janet took her hands and wiped the remains of her nail polish off before she started painting a new color on them. While Alice preferred blues over everything else Janet preferred purples. With her nails done Janet moved on to rubbing a facial cream into her cheeks.

“I’ve always sucked at this stuff.”

“You never really got a chance to learn. If I wasn’t doing it your mom paid someone to do it. Though in all fairness you don’t really need it. Lucky bitch.”

“Love you to.”

With her hands still on Alice’s face Janet smooshed her cheeks slightly as punishment for her tease. Alice laughed softly and leaned forward to bump their foreheads together.

“You are such a dork Allie cat.”

“I know.”

Janet laughed and took her hands away before moving to push Alice back on the couch. The two curled up together like cats and hugged each other close.

“I’m really sorry your mom flipped out so badly.”

“Nothing could be done. I figured it was going to happen no matter what. If it wasn’t Holtzmann or whoever I was dating at the time it would’ve been something else.”

“Long time coming.”

“Yeah.”

Janet sighed and pressed closer to Alice, resting more of her weight on her.

“This still is awful. Papa says if you want he’s more than willing to be your financial father.”

“My sugar daddy?”

“See I said that as well, but he pointed out that it would be a very sexless sugar daddy relationship. So financial father sounds like the better term.”

Alice laughed loudly, shaking her head.

“I don’t really need him.”

“Eh. He’s still gonna be giving you an allowance for a while. He just wants to make sure you’re happy.”

“I know. I’ll call him in the morning and thank him.”

“He’ll love that, he always loves hearing from you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The mysterious Janet appears.


	18. Best Friend and Girlfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For my own sake of mind I will be using //text// to designate when a character is speaking a different language instead of writing the conversation in that language. Lazy? Yes. But I feel it's easier to do then trying to track down an accurate translation and wind up still being wrong. And probably easier to read

“You’re dating a fireman?” Janet paused outside the firehouse, blinking in shock.

“Not really.” Alice laughed, taking Janet’s hand and tugged her into the firehouse with her, waving at Kevin before pushing her up the stairs. “I brought a friend!” She called out, feeling her cheek ache from how much she was smiling.

Jillian was instantly up and over, hands quickly coming up to check her face gently. “Doing okay?”

“Just fine. Little sore, but it’s getting better.” Alice leaned into her hands, one of her own coming up to grip Jillian’s wrist. “Janet rubbed a bruise cream into it last night.”

“Jan…” It was than when Jillian finally noticed the blonde woman standing behind her with a raised eyebrow. “Hello?”

Alice could understand her confusion, where Alice preferred boho styles Janet flaunted her lifestyle. Dressed in an ivory business suit with a deep purple shirt under the jacket and black pumps she cut an imposing figure even if she was eye level to Alice. The two looked like polar opposites with Alice’s dyed hair still in braided pigtails while Janet’s curls were piled up in a bun.

“This is Janet Bellamy, my best friend.” Janet gave a sweet smile that usually worked to charm everyone in the room to her side. If Alice had been a hippie since birth Janet had always been a cherub.

An evil cherub, but a cherub none the less.

“Charmed.” Now Alice knew Janet was playing her little game, she spoke in her natural French accent instead of the American accent she cultivated.

“Nettie..” Alice’s voice held a warning tone but Janet just waved her off. The game was simple; how long until the person stuttered or stumbled over their words in the face of Janet’s beauty? Janet did it with everyone she met, a habit not unlike Alice’s of referring to everyone semi-formally when she spoke to them. Sighing softly she shrugged to Jillian, knowing what was coming next.

Janet held no sexual or romantic interest in anyone. She just enjoyed flirting.

Jillian seemed to pick up on Alice’s tone as well and gave Janet a wary look as the others came over to greet her. Abby grabbed Alice away from Jillian for a moment to check her over herself, making tutting noises as she examined the bruise. Meanwhile Janet was entertaining the rest of the group explaining how she and Alice knew each other.

“Have you been at college?” Erin asked as she went back to her desk.

“No. Paris with my family. I came back when I heard what happened with Allie and her mom. My dad would’ve come with but my grandmother wants him to be there for a business meeting.”

The group settled into their respective spots, Alice being tugged into Jillian’s lap while Janet found her own seat.

“So..how did you two meet?” Janet purred softly, looking between the two of them.

“She came into my shop looking for a present for Abby.” Alice explained softly, petting Jillian’s hand as she raised an eyebrow at Janet in warning.

“Oh stop being so on edge Allie cat. I’m being nice.”

“You’re being flirty.”

“So?”

Alice sighed softly and shook her head, smiling softly to Jillian. “She means well but Janet is weird.”

“Says the woman who bleached her hair after getting drunk.”

Alice clicked her tongue and glared slightly.

“Ooo, embarrassing story time?” Whatever wariness Jillian had before seemed to have disappeared.

“No!”

“Sure!”

“Janet!”

Jillian covered Alice’s mouth to keep her from protesting as Janet dug through her purse and pulled out her photobook. Pulling one out of the pictures she handed it over. As Jillian took the photo Alice noticed it was one of their school pictures.

It took Alice a moment to realize it was a photo from one of their charity events, namely a bake sale that went bad for Alice. The photo showed the two of them in their formal school uniforms, Janet looking primp and proper like any PTA parent loved their daughter looking while Alice, with her bowl haircut and mud brown hair, was completely covered in flour.

Jillian looked at it for a moment before she started laughing, muffling the noise in Alice’s back. Abby came over to see what was going on and took the photo from Jillian, she laughed as well and showed Erin and Patty.

“Oh baby, what happened?”

“Bake sale….flour container exploded on me.”

“More accurately two of our fellow students dropped the container and despite a group of us standing there Allie took the full blast of it.”

The group laughed, but Alice didn’t mind. It wasn’t the same laugh as when she was forced to tell her teacher why she was covered in flour. They weren’t mocking her, they just found her situation funny.

“I think I know this uniform.” Alice and Janet both blinked at Patty. “Ya’ll were Nightingales?”

“Yeah, you know the school?” Janet seemed surprised, but Alice figured Patty probably met some of the new kids during her work at the subway. She noticed Jillian tensed up under her and she turned her head to look at her, but Jillian’s face gave no answer.

“Kinda. Saw some of the kids who had to take the subway. But if ya’ll were in the same school why didn’t you meet until high school?”

“I didn’t come too American and the school until high school.”

“And I was in Nightingale since kindergarten.” Leaning back into Jillian Alice shrugged slightly. “Alumni daughter and all that.”

“Nightingale?” Erin looked between the three of them confused.

“Nightingale-Bamford. It’s an all-girls private school.” Janet sighed softly, pushing her bangs off of her face. “I only spent four years there and I still shudder knowing I may have to go back there for a reunion. Alice was the one who bombed her social life, but trust me I was right up there wanting to scream.”

“Janet may be a rich daughter but the school was to limiting to her spirit. Plus she hated the uniform.”

“I did! A girl like me should be allowed to flaunt her style.”

Alice chuckled softly at how affronted Janet looked at the memory of not being allowed to wear what she had wanted. Jillian shifted slightly and looked over to Janet.

“Any other stories that she hasn’t told me yet?”

“You get the tango story?”

“First date.”

“Hmm…did you get the story of how she got grounded twice in a week?”

“Oh?” The group shifted to look at Janet while Alice groaned and buried her face in her hands.

“It was freshman year; we’d known each other about three months. We were in English and the teacher had stepped outside so Alice, being the flower child she was, moved from her desk to the window so she could soak up some sun. As she was sitting there some random woman came up to the window and started flirting with her!”

“She wasn’t flirting.” Alice interjected with a sigh. “That hair cut in the picture is what I had my entire life. She was making a comment on how it looked horrid.”

“She had her hand on your thigh.”

“Whatever.”

“Anyway! So this woman asks her to come see her after school and Alice looks like she’s honestly going to consider it. So one of the other girls in our class who knew Alice’s mom actually called her during class and told her that Alice was being picked up by a strange woman. That was the first grounding. Helen came to the school during lunch and marched her into the car.”

“How’d you get grounded when you were already grounded baby?”

Alice blushed and hid her face in her hands as Janet laughed and went back for her photobook. This time she pulled out a photo of her and Alice in Alice’s bedroom, the bowl cut now a cute little pixie cut.

“The next time the woman came around Alice took off with her and came back with her hair cut. Helen’s face looked like she sucked a lemon when she came to pick her daughter up.”

“You weren’t allowed to cut your hair?” Erin looked completely freaked at the level of no control Alice had in her life.

“According to my mother looks weren’t important in school life and since my hair grew like a weed a bowl cut she could do at home would save them on money.”

The group had various degrees of disgust over this so the conversation turned to something else to distract them from thoughts of Alice’s mom. After a few moments Alice shifted off of Jillian’s lap to go order lunch for the group and Janet hurried after her.

//You are very happy. //

It wasn’t weird for the two of them to talk in French around people they were fairly sure wouldn’t understand them.

//I am. Jillian makes me very happy. //

//I’m glad. I’m still gonna threaten her about taking care of you. //

//I know. //


	19. Cookies and Tears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's another fight in this chapter, this time with Alice's father. It's not as intense as the one with her mother but it may bring up triggers or emotions for people reading this.

Janet and Alice returned to her apartment after Janet’s round of embarrassing stories, the Ghostbusters had been called out on a job just as the stories were ending. Alice gave Jillian a kiss for luck and waved the girls off when they drove away in their hearse. Janet had choked a little seeing the hearse, but Alice just laughed. She did take pity on Janet and didn’t mention the fact there was a basically a bomb on the top of the hearse. 

Instead she promised Janet cookies that night to make up for not telling her about Jillian’s job.

After they both changed into Pjs, Janet in another night gown and Alice in a pair of pants and a tank top, Alice got started on making dinner. Steak for the two of them along with sides of steamed vegetables. Janet turned on the TV as she cooked and found a documentary on some random subject. Alice was tuning the TV out as she worked on dinner so she hadn’t been paying attention to the subject of the show. Janet seemed to be completely transfixed by it so Alice decided it probably was something decent.

Dinner was eaten in the living room again with the TV going and once the dishes were clean Alice got to work on the promised cookies.

“What are you making?” Janet asked, leaning in the doorway of the kitchen.

“Peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.”

“You want me fat.”

“Fat and well loved.”

Janet laughed but was cut off from answering by a knock on Alice’s door. The two looked at each other and Alice shrugged. She hadn’t been expecting anyone. Janet went to answer the door while Alice started mixing the dry and wet ingredients together for the cookies.

At Janet’s “Mr. Campbell!” Alice felt her blood run cold and she closed her eyes. Alice and Helen had a very tense relationship even in her childhood, Helen always wanted complete control over her daughter and while Alice didn’t resist it there was a low tension between the two of them.

Maurice on the other hand seemed always ready to accept what Alice did. He didn’t react to her not going to college or when she started getting tattoos and did her hair. The only argument was her moving out, and that was because she was eighteen.

He also was the one who taught Alice to speak through facial expressions and the two would talk to each other through expressions at the dinner table while Helen was on her rant about work or something Alice did. He was usually on her side in arguments and Alice could admit to slightly being a daddy’s girl.

Alice didn’t know if that was still the case.

“Good evening Jenny.” Alice winced, Janet hated being called Jenny, “Is Alice in?”

“Cooking sir.”

“I see. May I come in?”

“Of course sir.” Alice heard her front door shut and Janet quickly rushed into the kitchen again before Maurice could get there first. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Go watch TV or something.” Alice went back to the cookies as her father entered the kitchen. Janet seemed to hesitate but eventually left the two of them alone. Alice didn’t look up from the cookies as Maurice settled down on a stool that was left from Jillian coming over one day.

“Alice….”

“If you’re here to serve me papers regarding being taken from the will or whatever you and mother decided to do to disown me you can leave them on the island.”

“I’m not here to disown you Alice.”

Alice didn’t turn around, but her hands did slow down for a moment mixing the cookie dough. “Oh?”

“I convinced your mother that disowning you would do nothing to give you any reason to try and mend the relationship. She may like to believe that you still need our finances but you haven’t touched the trust fund we set up for you.”

“Hm.”

Maurice sighed softly and Alice could almost picture him rubbing his forehead. “Alice…this woman isn’t worth ruining the family for.”

“I’m not the one who ruined anything.”

“Alice.”

“She’s the one who came in here insulting Ji…Holtzmann and making demands she had no right to.”

“Alice this woma-“

“SHE HAS A NAME!”

The house went silent as Alice yelled, spinning to face her father and showing the temper she usually had under such a tight lock and key. Her breathing was hard and she hissed through her teeth.

“She has a name and I am sick of Helen and now you pretending she doesn’t.”

Neither of her parents had ever seen Alice’s temper, even her fight with Helen Alice had managed to keep it under reasonable control. Maurice blinked in shock and watched Alice like she was a grenade about to go off. Her fists were clenched at her sides and she was aware of Janet hovering just outside of her field of view, but she didn’t take her eyes off of Maurice.

“Alright. I doubt Holtzmann would want you to lose your family for her.”

“Holtzmann was here when Helen slapped me. I doubt she would cry over me leaving that.”

Maurice shifted in his stool as Alice turned back to the cookies, looking over to Janet and shaking her head. The other went back to the couch but Alice noted she didn’t unmute the TV so she could keep her ear on them.

“Alice. We just want what’s best for you.”

“You never argued with me about my choices before. Even with me moving out it was mostly because I was young and you worried I was going to get hurt.”

“Your choices before were never something that affected our family.”

“They still don’t! Tell me how the hell my relationship with Holtzmann is affecting our relationship that isn’t your or Helen’s doing?”

He didn’t have an answer so Alice went ahead and started forming the cookie dough into balls and placing them on a tray.

“Your mother researched her.”

“Of course she did.”

“Did she tell you about why she never got into CERN?”

“Partly. I know she regrets what happened and keeps tabs on the guy who got hurt.”

“Our point! She got someone hurt!”

“As happens in science! And hell I’ve accidentally gotten people with a rose thorn.”

“Those two things don’t really match.”

“Don’t care.”

Maurice sighed softly and stood up, walking to his daughter and putting his hands on her shoulders. “Princess we just want you to be safe and happy.”

“I am…. I don’t know how many times I have to repeat that I am.” Alice wasn’t ashamed at the wobbly tone her voice took. She was just so tired of having to repeat herself over and over again. “ _She_ makes me happy.”

“Alice…. it’s just hard for us to accept someone so outside our standards. If it was Janet, then…”

“You can accept that I may want a relationship with a woman…but only if she’s rich?”

“I didn’t say that. Your mother and I know Janet. We don’t know this Holtzmann.”

“You don’t _want_ to know her.”

He didn’t have an answer again, simply kissing the back of her head. “I’ve got to get home princess.”

“I know.” Leaving the cookies on the counter she walked him to her door. “Would it matter?”

“What?”

“Would it ever matter if you did know her?”

“….No. Your mother and I could probably never accept a relationship between you and someone like her.”

Alice this time had no response and simply nodded, shutting the door as he walked off. Heading back into the living room Janet was up in a moment and grabbed her into a hug, tucking her head into her neck just as Alice broke down into tears. Clutching at Janet Alice sobbed into her neck, feeling her move the two of them to the couch. Janet rocked them, kissing her hair and rubbing her back.

“Why can’t they accept that I’m happy?” It was partly choked as she spoke, still in sobs.

“You’ll always have me Allie Cat.”


	20. Tango for Two

After her crying fit Janet helped Alice into bed and let her sleep, which she slipped into easily. When morning came around Alice did feel better, and that feeling multiplied when she turned in her bed and saw Jillian laying there asleep as well. Smiling softly she rolled into Jillian’s side and nuzzled in close, sighing happily.

“It’s too early.” Jillian whined, burying her face into Alice’s hair.

“It’s the time I always get up.” Alice said, leaning up to look over at her clock. “When did you get here?”

“Last night. Janet texted me and said you were crying.”

“Mm.” Kissing her cheek slightly Alice rolled off of the bed and stretched, yawning. Her face felt grimy from falling asleep right after crying so she went into her bathroom to wash her face up. Jillian followed her in and leaned into her back, arms around her waist as she scrubbed at her face.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Not really. Just…another fight.”

“Mom again?”

“No.”

“Hm.” Jillian leaned heavily into her, kissing her neck softly. “I’m here if you want to talk.”

“I know.” Alice tipped her head slightly and kissed her temple.

After a few quiet moments Jillian pulled away and wandered back into the bedroom, Alice hearing her pulling through her wardrobe for clothes. Running a brush through her hair Alice came out in time to see Jillian laying out a skirt and shirt for her.

“You really like that skirt.” Alice laughed, seeing the long pink skirt she wore for their date laying on the bed.

“You look really, really great in it.”

Alice shook her head with a smile and changed into the outfit, the shirt was an old band t-shirt she borrowed from her cousin and never gave back. Normally she only wore it on Sundays, but Jillian apparently found it and wanted to see her in it.

“Where did you even find a Beatles ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club’ shirt? I wouldn’t peg it as your style.”

“It’s Michael’s. He let me borrow it after junior prom when someone stepped on my dress and ripped the top.” Dressed Alice went and pulled out a pair of sandals to wear to work. “I just never gave it back.”

“Mm. Going into work?”

“Yeah. I’ve missed a couple days to many for my own mental state so I’ve gotta run in and get some orders done. Plus focusing on my work will probably help me not focus on last night.” As she spoke Alice pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

“Mm.” Jillian came over when she was done with her hair and kissed her gently, hands resting on her hips. “Ya sure you’ll be okay?”

“It was just an argument. I’m not as shook up. Sad yeah, but I can handle being a bit sad.”

Jillian just pressed another kiss to her lips and nodded. “Okay.”

Janet was waiting in the kitchen with boxes of takeout from a diner down the block. “I do not cook.” Was all she said in answer to Alice’s raised eyebrow.

Alice laughed softly, opening a few of the boxes to see what was ordered. “I would’ve made breakfast you know.”

“Yeah, but you had a crying fit last night so I figured I’d treat you to breakfast. But since I don’t cook I went and got food.”

Breakfast was mostly eggs and bacon, though Janet did get pancakes and waffles as well. After eating Alice headed off to work, alone since Jillian had her own work and Janet decided she wanted to go shopping.

The day passed quietly, many of her regulars coming in to talk and a few large orders that completely took her mind off of the night before. The largest was another anniversary gift, this time done in various types of carnations since the husband favored them.

At least that’s what his wife said.

Throughout the day she got texts from both of the girls, but they were just little notes making sure she was still going good. For the most part there was only a moment or two when her hands weren’t busy that Alice did fall back into a slump. But she just shook her head and carried on until closing time.

As she was locking the door her phone buzzed and she pulled it out, seeing a text from Janet.

_‘Hey one of my aunts is in town so we’re spending the night at my place.’_

_‘Tell Auntie Cookie I said Hi.’_

_'…Do I wanna know how you knew which aunt it was?’_

_‘Because Auntie Cookie is the only one you bother with.’_

_‘Fair point’_

Alice laughed and tucked her phone into her pocket before getting on her Vespa and headed home. Yawning softly as she walked to her front door she paused and noticed a note taped to it. Pulling it off she raised an eyebrow at Jillian’s handwriting.

_‘Knock before you enter the lair.’_

“It’s my house?” Alice shook her head slightly but sighed, figuring Jillian probably had some little game in mind and tucked the note away. Knocking a few times on the door she waited for an answer.

Instead all she got were the sounds of music starting in the apartment and footsteps moving about. Deciding to see what was going on Alice opened her door and stepped in.

From the front door and leading to her living room was a trail of rose petals. Pausing in her doorway she blinked in shock at them, stepping carefully over them so she didn’t ruin the pattern though her skirt was blowing the petals aside as she walked.

It took her a few moments to place the music but when she did she raised an eyebrow.

“Why are you playing tango music?” Alice asked as she came into the living room freezing in her steps.

All of the living room furniture had been pushed aside, leaving her hard floor exposed. Jillian was standing in the middle of it with a rose in her mouth and giving her a saucy look. Shaking her head slightly Alice laughed and came over to her.

“What are you going?” She asked as Jillian took her hand and tugged her close.

“W’ dacin’.” Jillian tried to speak around the rose but it was slurred. Alice tugged the rose out of her mouth and tucked it into her hair.

“Say again?”

“We’re dancing.” Jillian said, shifting them into position. Alice felt her eyebrow jump at the move, looking between them.

“I didn’t know you knew how to tango.” As she spoke Jillian started to move Alice into the dance, clearly taking the male role for this.

“I learned.” It was clear through the slightly hesitant steps that the lessons were probably recent. Alice smiled softly but didn’t bother trying to take control. It was actually nice to dance again, after the school competition and having to dance with her cousin Alice dropped out of her dance club.

They carried on for a while, dancing to the music as Jillian carefully tried to do the more complicated moves. Alice would gently correct her movements before she hurt one or both of them, but allowed Jillian to remain in control. As the music drew to a close Jillian dipped her low to the ground and slowly drew her back up, taking advantage of their position to nip at her neck.

“Jill!” Alice laughed, head still tipped backwards into the dip before Jillian fully pulled her upright.  
“It was there begging to be marked.” She argued, tugging Alice close as the stereo moved onto the next song.

“My neck can’t beg.”

“Yes it can.” Jillian bent her head and started kissing and nipping at her throat again, bending Alice backwards as the woman laughed and shrieked as Jillian’s hands crept up and started tickling her. Jillian laughed softly against Alice’s throat, trailing her lips up to kiss her deeply.

Pushing her carefully Jillian moved her to the couch and let Alice fall onto it before pinning her down. Kissing her again Jillian paused for a moment and looked down at her.

“You know I love you right?”

Alice blinked slightly at how bluntly it was said before laughing and wrapping her arms around Jillian’s neck. “I know.”

“Good.” Bending her head down Jillian nipped and kissed a bruise into Alice’s neck before simply laying on her and curling on the couch.

The music continued to play on as the two of them laid on the couch together, curling together and softly kissing.


	21. Aunts and Fathers

Janet texting her about Aunt Cookie being in town should’ve been a warning.

Most of Janet’s family knew her, either through phone conversations or meeting her personally. Aunt Cookie and her husband Richard were the two more often involved in Janet’s life and thus the two who knew Alice better than the rest of them.

This also meant Aunt Cookie often got it into her head that Alice needed to be spoiled rotten. Really then Alice shouldn’t have been surprised when she opened her door and saw the woman standing there.

“Come on in.” She sighed, smiling to her. Jillian poked her head out from the kitchen and raised an eyebrow at them. “Holtzmann this is Claudette Fortier. She’s one of Janet’s aunts”

“Call me Cookie.” Claudette was an extremely tall woman with ice blonde hair that was kept in a pixie cut and deep blue eyes. She was also the one Alice took her fashion style from, Claudette adored the boho style just as much as Alice did. “I hope you don’t mind that I’m stealing your girlfriend away for the day.”

“I have work Auntie.”

“You can skip a day Allie Cat.” Claudette said, tapping Alice on the nose.

“Not really. I missed a lot of days so far.”

Grumbling Claudette mussed Alice’s hair, pulling some of the strands loose of the braid she slept in. “I wanted to take you shopping.”

“Nope. Too busy. You can come to the shop with me though.”

“Hmm. Nope.” Claudette laughed, kissing her forehead softly. “How about I take your girlfriend out instead? Get to know her?”

“Umm…” Alice looked between the two of them, but Jillian seemed almost excited about the idea. “Ask her?”

“Gladly.” Turning to Jillian Claudette smiled brightly. “Want to go learn embarrassing stories about your girlfriend’s high school life?”

“What is with you and your niece telling embarrassing stories about me?”

“It makes us laugh.”

Alice sighed and headed to her bedroom to get dressed, leaving Claudette and Jillian time to talk. Pulling a maxi dress on and redoing her hair so it was back in order. Finally dressed she went back out to the living room and saw that Jillian and Claudette were getting ready to leave as well. The three of them left the apartment and Alice locked the door behind them.

In the garage Alice walked Jillian to Claudette’s car and gave her a kiss. “You two have fun. Don’t spend too much money Auntie.”

“No promises.” Claudette called from the driver’s seat, laughing brightly as Jillian got into the car.

Alice shook her head slightly as they drove off, getting on her Vespa and heading off to work. At the shop Janet was waiting outside, smiling brightly.

“I told Auntie you wouldn’t take the day off.”

“You know me so well. She took Jillian out.”

“Of course she did.” Alice laughed softly at that. Claudette enjoyed spending money on people, so it wasn’t weird for them that she’d take Jillian out if there was no one else. Unlocking the shop door, the two entered and set up the shop for opening.

Janet was handy to have around the shop since she took the orders which left Alice to focus on the projects themselves. It was nice to not have to rush between her counter and projects, and Janet’s natural energy kept the customer’s entertained when she spoke.

“You’re gonna make a hell of a saleswoman.” Alice teased as she swept up some cut stems and thorns from a rose bouquet she had just finished.

“That’s what my papa says to.”

“Speaking of. I completely forget to call him.” Pulling out her cell phone she headed into the back room of the shop and dialed from memory.

//Allie cat? What’s wrong?// Vincent Bellamy always seemed in a constant state of panic. It was probably just his tone of voice naturally, but it still made Alice laugh.

//I can’t just call you anymore Vinny?//

//After your mother I’m terrified of you calling and saying that you’re getting kicked out or worse.//

//Worry wart.//

//When it comes to you and Janet? Yes.//

Alice laughed softly, shaking her head. //Anyway I wanted to tell you I was okay. Janet and Cookie have both been checking on me. The shop is still up and running, and apparently I’m not being disowned due to there being no reason to.//

//Good. When I get back to New York I intend to have a conversation with your mother.//

//Wasting your time Vinny.//

//We’ll see.//

The rest of the conversation focused on Alice’s shop and the current projects she was working on. Vincent had a standing order for vases of flowers for all his jewelry shops through her shop and always loved hearing what she was working on. He had been the first customer she had when she took over the shop and had boasted about her to all of his customers, leading to even more business. 

Vincent had been raising Janet alone for years now so his natural dad temperament bled into a lot of his interaction with Alice. Sometimes she wished he was the one she could have meet her teachers at PTA meetings.

“Allie your girlfriend is here!” Tipping her head slightly as Janet called from the front Alice sighed.

//I’ve got to let you go Vinny.//

//Of course. Say hi to Janet and your girlfriend for me.//

//Of course. Love you//

//Love you to Allie cat.//

Hanging up her cell she tucked it away as she came out of the backroom, smiling to Jillian who was examining a daisy and lily bouquet she had made earlier that day.

“Hey Jil. Enjoy your time with Aunt Cookie?” Alice said as she came over to her.

“Yep. Heard a lot of interesting stories about you.” Jillian teased, cupping her face and kissing her deeply. “And got you a present.”

“Oh?”

“You’ll see.”

“Now I’m worried.” Jillian laughed softly, giving her another kiss.

“Alright love birds knock it off.” Janet groused from behind the counter, shaking her head from behind the counter. “Or go take a lunch Alice.”

“Lunch sounds perfect. You take one to Janet. You’ve been working just as long as I have. Also your dad says hi.”

Janet nodded, grabbing her purse and headed out before Alice finished talking, obviously heading off to catch up with her aunt before the woman drove off. Now alone Jillian tipped Alice’s head back and pulled her into a deep kiss, arms going around her waist and pulling her close. Alice moaned softly, wrapping her arms around Jillian’s neck as she was pushed to rest against her work table.

“Jillian if we’re gonna do anything here I need to lock the front door.” Alice protested against her lips, laughing softly.

“Mm. Too much effort.” Jillian said, trailing kisses down her neck and nipping gently.

“We’re going to be interrupted. Again.”

“…Good point. Let’s finish this at my place.”

“Tonight?”

“Now.” With that she was tugged out of her shop, only given enough time to flip the sign and lock the door. Jillian hurried her onto the Vespa, Alice a passenger on her own bike, and she shouted to be heard over the wind and motor.

“I’ve only got an hour!”

“You’ve got all the time in the world!” Jillian laughed, taking a corner and headed to her apartment. Once parked she helped Alice off and took her up to her apartment.

“Hello Einstein.” Alice said as the ferret ran past her in his tubes. He stopped for a moment to stare at her before huffing and racing off. “He is not impressed with me is he?”

“Nah, but even I’ve gotten those looks, he tolerates me for my thumbs usually.” Jillian laughed, wrapping her arms around Alice and kissing her sweetly. “But before I forget I got you a present.”

Pulling away from her Jillian grabbed her bag and pulled out a wrapped gift. Handing it over she smiled softly as Alice gently picked apart the wrapping and slid out a long thin white box. Opening the box Alice laughed softly at the sight of a set of hair pins with science warning signs as the design. Sliding out the one with the radioactive warning sign on it she carefully pinned it into her hair.

“Does it look okay?”

“Well I’d hang your pin up on my wall.”


	22. Bedroom Talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More sexual scenes in this chapter. It's been a while hasn't it,lol

Despite Jillian’s begging Alice went back to her shop shortly before her lunch ended, promising to come by after work. Janet raised an eyebrow when she returned, eyeing the nip marks that dotted Alice’s neck.

“Didn’t expect you back.”

“Shush.” All that got was a laugh as the two settled into work again, a few more orders coming in before they finally closed shop. Claudette came back to take Janet to Alice’s apartment while Alice headed to Jillian’s apartment. Knocking on the door it was yanked open and she was pulled into a deep kiss. Laughing against her lips Alice kicked the door shut behind her as Jillian tugged her into the apartment. Her hands were tugging on dress, finding the laces and letting it drop to the floor.

“Excited?” Alice teased as she felt her dress fall to the floor.

“Horny.” Along with the answer Jillian bit down on her neck, sucking a hickey into her skin and holding her tightly. She walked them backwards into her bedroom, fingers quickly undoing Alice’s bra and helping her toss it to the side. For a moment Alice feared that Einstein would find it and hide it away, but those thoughts were quickly silenced by Jillian’s hands coming around to massage at one of her breasts as she kissed her deeply.

Once in Jillian’s bedroom Alice was turned and pushed onto the bed, Jillian pinning her down and trailing kisses down her chest. Alice’s hands came up to grip Jillian’s hair, pulling the strands loose from the updo as Jillian spent a few moments tonguing and sucking on her breasts and nipples before trailing her tongue down her stomach.

“Jil. Stop for a moment.” Alice said, tugging Jillian up to her.

“What? You hurt?” Jillian hovered over her for a moment, looking very confused.

“No it’s just you already….I haven’t….” Alice blushed slightly as she tried to figure out how to vocalize what she was thinking.

Jillian paused for a moment before apparently figuring it out. Laughing softly she bent and kissed Alice deeply. “You want your turn?” She teased, nuzzling their noses together.

Pouting slightly Alice wiggled her hands up under Jillian’s shirt and pushed it off. Using dancer strong legs she managed to flip their positions and pin Jillian to the bed. “I want my turn. Besides you’re the one who said I owed you one.” The rather aggressive move caused her to blush but she hid it by kissing Jillian deeply. Nipping at her bottom lip Alice started to kiss down her neck and chest.

It had been a while since she had been with a woman but Alice remembered some tricks she had learned during her high school years. Nipping at her chest her hands darted down to her pants and started to undo the buttons of her pants, pushing them down her hips with a little help from Jillian lifting her hips.

Curling her hands around Jillian’s hips Alice pressed kisses down her stomach before nipping just under her belly button. “What’s with you and no underwear?” She laughed, looking up to Jillian.

“Just don’t like the feeling of it. I like it breezy.”

“Hm.” Going back to kissing her stomach Alice shifted further down, pushing Jillian’s legs open and shifting them to settle against her. Trailing her lips down she gently flicked her tongue against Jillian’s thigh before shifting to press her lips against her slit, tongue sliding out to slowly lap at her.

Jillian’s hand came down to clutch at her hair, tugging tight enough that Alice hissed against her before returning the favor by gliding her teeth against her clit. That move earned her a laugh from above and Jillian’s legs shifting to press her heels against her back. Alice just smiled and moved a hand to slip up to her mouth and wiggled a finger into Jillian’s opening.

The next few moments Alice was focused on bringing Jillian to the edge, tongue and fingers working to tease and excite her. When she felt Jillian’s body quivering she pulled away from her, leaving her on edge.

“Alice!”

Laughing Alice leaned up and kissed her deeply. “Yes Jil?”

“Evil. Evil woman.”

“Thank you.” Laughing again Alice slipped her hand back down between Jillian’s legs, two fingers sliding in easily as she kissed her. Jillian moaned into her mouth as Alice twisted her fingers slowly, working her back up easily. This time she let her peak over the edge, Jillian moaning loudly into her mouth and clutching at her head as she shivered under her.

Pulling her fingers out Alice pulled away from the kiss and rested her forehead against Jillian’s. “Okay?”

“Yeah.”

Smiling softly Alice twisted and laid down next to her, curling up against Jillian with a happy sigh. “Good.”

The two laid together for a moment, Jillian’s hand coming up to pet Alice’s hair as Alice’s hand gently rubbed her stomach. After a few moments Jillian rolled Alice under her, kissing her deeply as her hands gently wandered down to tug her underwear off. Alice lifted her hips easily, opening her legs so Jillian could settle against her.

Jillian’s hand worked its way between her legs, fingers sliding in and thumb finding her clit. Moaning into her mouth Alice shifted her legs open more and wrapped her hands into Jillian’s hair and clutched her close. She was already worked up from earlier so it didn’t take more than a few pumps of Jillian’s fingers to easily tip her over. Moaning loudly into Jillian’s mouth Alice’s body tensed and then fell into the bed, basically pudding now.

“You good?”

“Yeah.” Alice laughed, blinking over to her as Jillian shifted to lay against her.

“Good.” Jillian kissed her neck softly before shifting up and off the bed. “Dinner?”

“Is there any space to cook in your kitchen?” Alice asked, leaning up and watching as Jillian collected clothing for both of them from her dresser.

“Take out?”

“Yeah I thought so.” Laughing Alice got off the bed and took the clothes Jillian was holding out for her, dressing quickly.

Jillian went to her phone as Alice padded out to the living room, collecting her bra and dress from the floor before Einstein could think to steal either of them. Tossing them into Jillian’s room she followed the tubing to the main cage where the ferret was busy chowing down on his food.

“Evening furry.” She said, catching his attention. The albino ferret gave her a look of boredom before coming to the bar and sniffing at her fingers. “Starting to get used to me?”

She was answered by him turning his back on her and going back to his food. “Guess not.”

“Ordered us some pizza.” Jillian came up behind Alice and wrapped her arms around her waist. “Now…wanna talk about what got you in tears the day before?”

“You’re not gonna drop it are you?”

“It hurts if you don’t talk about it. I know Janet was there but I worry.”

“Mm.” Sighing softly Alice tipped her head back to rest on Jillian’s shoulder. “My dad came by.”

Jillian tensed, arms tightening around her waist and teeth gritting slightly. “Did he hit you?”

“No. We just talked. He confirmed some things.”

“Like?”

“That both of them have their heads shoved up their asses.”

That got a laugh from Jillian and her to relax with a sigh. “So…what was said?”

“That while I’m not disowned they can’t stand the fact I’m with you.”

“They don’t even know me.”

“And they don’t want to. It’s a class thing. I’m a Victorian noble woman and you’re…”

“The streetwise tramp?”

“Don’t call yourself that word.”

“Hooligan?”

“Better.”

Jillian laughed again and nuzzled her nose against Alice’s neck. “So what’s gonna happen?”

“I’m going to ignore them until they admit they were wrong and ask to meet you. If they thought I was ignoring them before they’re in for a big surprise. At least before I was willing to call them and interact with them. If they want to act like they know what’s best for me they better be ready to see me angry.”

Jillian hummed softly in answer, nuzzling her neck again before tugging her away from Einstein’s cage. The two flopped onto the couch together, Jillian pinning her down and sighing softly as she rested her head over Alice’s chest.

“Your heart has a nice beat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To not flood my personal I made a side blog http://whoyougonnacallseries.tumblr.com/ where I'll answer questions about the series or post references to the characters


	23. Homeward Bound

“I can’t believe I’m riding in a hearse.”

“It’s either this or the Vespa.”

“….The hearse will do.”

Alice giggled from the front seat, her hand stretched across to hold Jillian’s as the other drove. Janet had to catch her flight back to Paris along with Aunt Claudette and Uncle Richard, who had been working and hadn’t been able to stop by. Jillian offered to take them to the airport since neither of them thought her little Vespa would handle the streets to the airport.

The drive to the airport was filled with Jillian’s tapes blasting various songs from the eighties or earlier. Alice sang along when she knew the song and Janet sang in French, though neither of them could carry a tune. Jillian laughed softly but sang as loudly as they did, squeezing Alice’s hand every so often. At the airport she parked instead of just pulling up and the three walked into the main lobby were Claudette and Richard were already waiting for them.

While Claudette was tall and stunning Richard tended to blend into the background. A short man with simple features he was none the less a very cunning minded businessman and kept his wife happy.

The two greeted Jillian warmly as Alice and Janet clung to each other, arms holding tightly. They spoke in low French into each other’s ears, promising to call and text.

It was similar to when she first left, the two acting like children who would never see each other again.

After a few moments Claudette called for Janet and gave Alice a soft kiss to the forehead while Richard hugged her gently.

//Call my lawyer Allie. If your parents want to be pissy he’ll show them pissy.// Richard told her, patting her back.

//It’s fine Richard. I’ll just let them burn themselves out.//

//Always a good plan. But just in case.// Handing her a card he pointed at the number. //He knows to help you and bill me. Don’t be afraid to call me.//

//Yes uncle.//

//Don’t sass me.// Richard chuckled softly and kissed her forehead in turn. //Be good Allie.//

//Yes yes.//

Waving the three of them off Jillian and Alice stood in the lobby and watched them pass through customs. It wasn’t until they were completely out of sight did Alice give a heaving sigh.

“You okay?” Jillian asked, nuzzling her nose against her temple.

“Yeah. I’m just being silly.”

“Nah. It’s understandable. Ya’ll are best friends.” Wrapping her arm around Alice’s waist Jillian tugged her close and smiled to her. “Come on. Let’s get lunch.”

“Chinese food or pizza?”

“What? No offers to cook for me?”

Alice laughed softly at that, shaking her head. “Fine, what would you like me to cook?”

“Hm…No idea.”

Sighing as they got back to the hearse Alice hummed as she tried to remember what she still had in her fridge. She used the last of the fish yesterday and the beef the day before. She hadn’t thawed out any chicken and Jillian wasn’t a fan of ham.

“We have to hit the grocery store first.”

“Gotcha.”

Pulling up to the supermarket they both ignored the looks the hearse got as Jillian opened Alice’s door and helped her out. Linking arms they got a shopping cart and headed into the building, Alice shivering slightly in the cooler air.

“Where do you want to start?”

With a manic smile Jillian quickly moved the cart down the candy aisle, pausing and looking over the rows of chocolate.

“No.”

“But Al!”

“One bag. One _small_ bag.”

Pouting slightly Jillian picked up a bag of Hersey Kisses and tossed them into the basket. Returning to the cart Jillian started pushing it, allowing Alice to pause and pick out what she wanted from different aisles.

In the meat department Alice quickly stoked up on beef and fish, grabbing a thing of patties so she could make burgers when they got back to her apartment. Jillian also tossed in a few racks of bacon, causing Alice to raise an eyebrow at her. She was greeted with a shrug and the cart being pushed away from her.

A few things of eggs and milk were put into the cart and a few mixes for breakfast tomorrow. Jillian hurried down the soda aisle and grabbed up a few cases of Sprite and brought them into the cart as well. Alice leaned in and grabbed Orange Fanta for herself, raising an eyebrow again at Jillian’s snickers.

They did a few more rounds around the shop to make sure they had covered the bases and then got into line, Jillian stepping away once they were unloaded to grab a second cart. As she loaded up their bagged groceries Alice paid and signed the receipt, taking a hold of the first cart and pushing it back into the stall as Jillian took the loaded cart to the hearse.

It was a bit of a shuffle to get everything in with Jillian’s proton pack still in the trunk, but they eventually managed to squeeze the last bag in and get into the car themselves. Jillian turned the radio up louder than it had been before, laughing at the dirty looks people gave the pair when they stopped at red lights and _‘Don’t You Want Me?’_ was blasting from their open windows. Alice just smiled and shook her head.

It took about three trips to get all of the groceries into the apartment, not helped by Bowser and Peach running around and sticking their noses into all of the bags looking for treats. To get them to leave her alone Alice broke out frozen ham hocks she had hidden in the freezer.

They were the dogs’ in the first place, but Alice hid them away so she didn’t spoil them rotten.  
Leaving the patties and a rack of bacon out for burgers Alice put the rest of the groceries away and broke out the pans to cook with.

“Do you want anything to go with the burgers?” Alice asked as she started up the stove and set the frying pans to eat up.

“Do you have corn?”

“Canned or cobbed?”

“Either.”

Nodding to herself Alice grabbed a pot and cleaned off a few ears of corn, setting them to boil as she laid the bacon in the first frying pan. Soon the sounds of frying and sizzling were combating with the TV show Jillian had turned on. Alice paused for a moment to bring Jillian a can of her Sprite and leaned in for a kiss before she returned to making the burgers.

“You know, I feel like I should kick my shoes off and stick a basketball under my dress.”

There was a loud thump from the living room as Jillian fell off of the couch in laughter.

“Ow.” Jillian laughed, holding her stomach as she rolled on the floor.

Alice smiled softly and shook her head, flipping the burgers and getting some plates ready. Laying out the buns she moved to get some condiments from the fridge and moved the pans off of the stove.

“Come dress your burger up Jil.”

It took a few moments before Jillian joined her in the kitchen, tipping her head up to kiss her deeply.

“That hurt.” She teased, nuzzling their noses together.

“You’re the one who rolled off of the couch.”

Laughing again Jillian pulled away from her and moved to make up her burger. Alice had finished with hers so she moved away and headed into the living room. Settling into the couch she popped open a can of her Fanta and leaned back into the pillows.

Jillian joined her a moment later with a burger that looked like half the kitchen sitting on top of a bun.

“How exactly do you intend to eat that?”

“Very messily.”

“I see.”

Jillian laughed at her bland tone and the raised eyebrow she gave. “I won’t get it on your couch. I promise.”

“Good because I don’t think I can fit these pillows into the washing machine.”

Jillian laughed again and started to dig into her burger, Alice watching her for a moment to make sure she wasn’t going to drip anything before she dug into her own meal.


	24. Downtime from Drama

The next week passed quietly without Janet, though Jillian did fill the space with her own energy.  
Saturday night was spent at the fire station since apparently Abby found a collection of bad old horror movies and Alice was invited to watch them.

And join in on the drinking game.

“I see strings!” Alice laughed, pointing at the screen. The others groaned and downed their shots. Apparently the game was whoever spotted the bad special effects didn’t have to drink.  
Alice was winning.

“How are you so good at this?” Erin complained, still making a face after her shot of whatever Jillian had poured into their cups.

“My TV when I lived with my parents wasn’t hooked to the cable box so I watched a lot of public access movies. They use the same affects.” Alice was seated in Jillian’s lap and had to bend with her as the other poured more alcohol into their cups. “I just learned to watch for it.”

The group laughed and they settled back into the movie. Abby was the next one to spot the pre-broken glass as an actor was shoved through it. Alice downed her shot and shivered, shaking her head.

“Jillian, why are we drinking paint thinner?”

“Because we are.” Jillian laughed, nuzzling her face into Alice’s neck. As the movie came to an end Patty stood up with a yawn.

“Okay I’m getting us some food. Drinking all this booze on an empty stomach is gonna kill us.”

“I’ll go with you.” Erin quickly scrambled to her feet, though she almost tripped. Getting herself back upright she wrapped her arm around Patty’s to keep her feet under her.

“What do ya’ll want?”

“Alice can pick.” Abby didn’t look up from where she was picking out another movie.

“Mm…there’s a barbeque place down the road isn’t there?”

“Yep!”

“The leftovers will help with the hangovers tomorrow.”

Patty laughed and nodded, helping Erin out of the fire station. Alice wiggled out of Jillian’s lap, heading over to Abby to help her pick out the next movie. A moment later the theme of the Wicked Witch of the West started blaring, causing both of them to blink and look around.

“Your mom is calling.” Jillian said, looking over to the table where Alice’s purse had been set.

“That’s not my mom’s ringtone?”

“It is now.”

Alice leaned back onto her heels and raised her eyebrow at Jillian. “When did you get into my phone…again?”

“Now now if I tell you it’ll ruin the surprise.”

“Hmm.” Getting up Alice went to her purse and dug out her phone, sighing when it did indeed say it was her mom calling. Declining the call and turning her ringer off Alice put it back into her purse and returned to the movie pile with Abby.

They had settled on an old Japanese horror movie when Patty and Erin returned, laden with food. The restaurant also had given them disposable plates and silverware meaning the food was easily doled out. Alice settled next to Jillian as they ate, despite being tugged to sit in her lap.

As the movie started Alice tipped her head slightly and then shouted “Fog machine in lower left corner!” It was answered with groans as they all downed their shots.

By the third movie they called the game quits, mostly because Erin looked ready to barf. Alice’s phone had been buzzing and lighting up through both movies, but they all ignored it.

“Alright I’m answering it.” Abby sighed, getting up just as the movie ended and headed to Alice’s purse after she handed the girl her food.

“Abby don’t. She’ll give up eventually.” Alice said, shifting in her seat to watch Abby.

“Yeah, but it’s getting annoying.” Grabbing Alice’s phone she answered. “What?!...Alice can’t come to the phone, no…Because we’re watching movies and you’re being rude…That makes no sense and I’m hanging up now.” With a click she hung up and came back to the others.

“Anything interesting to say?” Alice asked as she handed Abby her plate of food back.

“Something about it being the second Saturday of the month and you were supposed to call?”

“…Why would I still be doing that after the way she treated me?”

“No idea.”

Sighing softly Alice shook her head, shifting to lean against Jillian slightly at the idea of how stubborn her mother was. Jillian just nuzzled her nose against her temple and sighed with her. The next movie was picked by Patty and was truly frightening. They were all on edge as it progressed, Alice hiding her face into Jillian’s neck every time the villain came out or the music started to build.

During a quiet moment in the movie Alice peeked her eyes out, watching the main couple talking and sighed softly grateful for the moment.

Of course it turned out to be fake.

“AHHHH!” She screamed along with the lead female as the villain came out and stabbed the man through his neck and spurted her with his blood. Her scream caused the rest of them to jump and Erin knocked over her plate of food in the motion.

Abby quickly hit the pause button and they all tried to settle, Alice clinging to Jillian and shivering slightly while Erin cleaned up her mess. Patty, meanwhile, was laughing at how loudly Alice had screamed and how hard she was squeezing Jillian.

“You gonna be alright, baby?”

“No!”

Jillian chuckled softly and rubbed her side, shifting Alice into her lap so she could hold her closer. “I’ll protect you, you know that.”

“You fight ghosts. Not vindictive serial killers who are taking out their impotent rage on targets who had nothing to do with what happened. Stop whining over your past and move on!”

“Did you just make it sound like the killer is being a baby?” Abby laughed, looking over to her.

“Implying it yes. It helps me cope.”

Everyone laughed at that and Jillian nuzzled into her neck and rocked the two, “You gonna be able to finish the movie?”

“No.”

“Alright we’ll change it baby.” Patty said, moving to the TV and popping the tape out. “Anyone still in the mood for horror or did Allie’s scream give us all the scare we needed?”

There was a chorus of agreement and Patty switched from the VCR to the cable and flipped through the channels trying to find something to watch. Still shivering slightly Alice got up and headed to the table filled with food to make herself and Jillian another plate. Holding a cornbread muffin in her mouth she carried the plates over just as Patty landed on a cartoon show.

“Is this gonna be an adult cartoon?” Alice asked as she removed the muffin from her mouth.

“I hope so!” Jillian seemed excited, but if it was over the idea of an adult cartoon or her food Alice wasn’t sure.

“Nah, looks like a rerun of a kids show.” Patty said as she settled back away from the TV. After a few moments of watching it Jillian and Alice agreed it was a kids show. Abby got up to get her own food as Erin came back from throwing away the paper towels she had used to clean up.

With the tension from the horror movie broken they fell into an easy pattern of joking and eating, Patty and Alice paying attention to the cartoon and commenting whenever something funny happened. Eventually it got to the point they were all making fun of the show, which depicted a child scientist.

“Okay, now I wanna make that.” Jillian said, pointing at the raygun the child made.

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.”

“A small one?”

“I don’t think you’d be able to make it period Holtz.” Abby pointed out “The kid has access to weird alien tech. Which probably means you’d need it to.”

“Damn, foiled by logic!”

Alice laughed softly and shifted in her seat, cuddling close to Jillian and sighed happily. An argument over alien tech started as Alice watched the cartoon again, feeling her eyes slowly start to close.

She was warm, full and nuzzled into her girlfriend. The buzz she had from their earlier drinking was still there and she yawned lowly before letting her eyes full close.

After a few breaths Alice was fast asleep.


	25. Eventually

“My head hurts.”

Alice sighed softly and came over to pet Jillian’s hair gently, left down for the first time since she’s known the woman.

“You did take a lot of shots last night.” Alice escaped the hangover thanks to having been good at the game. Jillian was with her because the other women were also hung over and decided not to come into work today. “Be happy. I could be putting you to work.”

Jillian just groaned from where she was laying on Alice’s work table. Alice just laughed and left her to mope, going about her deep cleaning schedule. Even if Jillian was just lying on the table muttering it was still nice to have her in the shop with her.

“You should be nicer to me! You could’ve deafened me with that scream last night!”

“But I didn’t.”

“Hmmph.”

Alice shrugged slightly and went back to cleaning. At noon she shook Jillian up to eat some of their leftovers before letting her flop back onto the table.

Just as Jillian slipped back off to her nap someone started rapidly banging on Alice’s front door. Sighing softly she stepped around the shelf and raised an eyebrow seeing her mother standing there looking pissed.

“Stay here, Jil.” Going to her front door she sighed. “Customer’s aren’t allowed in on Sundays. I’m simply here to clean.”

“Don’t sass me Alice! Open this door!”

“Not going to happen, Helen.”

“Alice Tiffany Campbell, you do not talk to me like that!”

“You’re the one who tried to disown me, Helen!”

Helen just seethed for a moment before smoothing her face down into her famous lawyer mask. “Only because I felt it was the only way to get you to wake up. That Holtzmann woman is bad news.”

“You don’t know her.”

“I know her history. I know she’s dangerous and that her experiments could hurt you.”

“Which is why I’m not allowed to touch her work desk without permission nor am I allowed in the testing area.”

That obviously hadn’t been the response Helen expected, judging by the woman’s narrowing eyes and lemon pucker mouth. “Still. What happens if one day something happens?”

“You made me afraid of ‘something’ my entire life and nothing ever happened.”

“Just because it hasn’t-“

“Doesn’t mean it won’t. I know the phrase.”

“I’m just watching out for you.”

“Me? Or the public opinion of you?”

“That’s not fair, Alice.”

“Neither is trying to control my life.”

Helen sighed softly from the other side of the door and Alice for a moment was reminded of when she questioned why she couldn’t go outside without her parents or Michael. It was always that sigh that greeted her whenever she wanted to push her boundaries.

“Alice, be rational. What do you two have in common?”

“We’re both dorks. She’s funny and makes me laugh. Holtzmann honestly cares about me and wants me happy.”

“And you think you can build a relationship off of that?”

“What drew you to dad?”

“He said yes.”

Alice paused, blinking at Helen for a moment. “That explains so much.”

“Don’t get smart with me. Now open this door.”

“The last time we weren’t separated by a phone or a door you slapped me. My cheek is only just now getting back to its normal coloring.”

“You’re being dramatic.”

“Holtzmann kept photos of the bruise.”

“…” Helen’s face twitched slightly. “You convinced her to document your bruising?”

“I did it on my own.” Jillian’s voice got both of them to jump slightly and Alice turned to look at her.

“Go lay back down, Jil.”

“I’m not leaving you to deal with this on your own.” Jillian came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist.

“So she’s allowed in but I’m not?”

“She’s my girlfriend.”

“I’m your mother.”

“You were my mother, Helen”

“I didn’t disown you, Alice.”

“Don’t mean I want you in my life.”

Helen seethe for a moment, obviously wanting to yell but realizing that doing so wouldn’t work in her favor. “Alice, please let me in.”

“No.”

“Alice!”

“I’m done kowtowing to you. You have absolutely no respect for my choices and I’m done with it.” Alice tensed up and felt Jillian’s arms pull her closer to her chest. “If you want to ever get back into my life I suggest respecting my decision and leaving. Now.”

Helen gaped at her for a moment before smoothing her face back down. “Alice, you’re being aggressive and this isn’t like you. Obviously this woman is having a negative effect on you.”

“Or maybe I’m at my limit with you. I’m done arguing. I have cleaning to do.” With that Alice turned from the door and headed to the back room. Jillian followed with her, sighing softly.

“She’s persistent isn’t she?”

Mumbling in answer Alice started pulling the shelves around so she could get behind them. “I’m tired of her.”

“I know, Al.” Jillian sat down to watch Alice

Sighing softly Alice rubbed her forehead. “And now I’m doubting myself.”

“Al, don’t.” Standing up Jillian came over to Alice and hugged her close. “You did the right thing.”

“I know. It’s just she’s right. I normally don’t let my temper get the best of me. Even with Michelle it was just a brief snap. Not this lingering anger.”

“It’ll pass. You’re to sweet to stay angry.”

“Mm.” Sighing softly Alice turned to Jillian and kissed her softly. “Thanks.”

“No worries, Al.”

Jillian eventually went back to her seat so Alice could finish cleaning. Every so often they could hear Helen calling out to Alice but they ignored her. It eventually died down and Jillian poked her head out.

“She’s gone.”

“Good.”

After the cleaning was finished Alice and Jillian headed back to Alice’s apartment, Jillian on her cell and ordering from a Mexican place she knew that delivered.

Alice went to shower off the sweat from cleaning as Jillian dealt with the food. Changing into a long shirt she came back out and flopped onto the couch with a groan.

“Wine?”

“Yes, please.”

Jillian chuckled softly and opened a bottle, pouring a cup for Alice and bringing it out.

“You gonna be okay?”

“Eventually.”


	26. Better then I thought

Surprisingly Helen didn’t come back and Alice got through three weeks without any contact with any of her family. She and Jillian kept trading off who’s house they slept at, getting to the point both women had space in their closets cleaned out for the other and some of their bath items had been shifted into the others bathroom. Sundays were spent together doing the cleaning of the shop and Alice had even made dinner for the entire group one night when they had spent the night at Alice’s apartment after a particularly brutal bust.

Friday morning came with no issues and Alice was able to get all of her morning orders knocked out and by lunch she was able to lock up with no worries.

“Hey fairy.”

Looking back Alice felt her lips break out into a huge smile. “Michael!”

Michael was her cousin, the same age and whose birthday was only a few days after Alice’s. He was also everything she wasn’t. Tall to her short, built to her slim frame, and the golden child of their family while she was now the black sheep.

“Hey Alice.” She hugged him eagerly. “Heard you’ve been rocking the boat.”

“Oh gods what’s been said?”

“The usual. You’re ruining your life, you’ve gone mad. You’re dating some woman which surprised me. I didn’t figure you’d ever come out to your folks.”

“Didn’t plan on coming out in such a public way but the universe kind tipped my hand.”

“Hm.”

“So what are you doing here, aren’t you in college?”

“Yeah, taking the day off to come see you.”

Alice paused before feeling her heart sink. “She wants to see me doesn’t she?”

“Yeah.”

Hannah Bray, her mother’s twin sister and Michael’s mother, was the head of the family after the death of their grandparents. She had married Michael’s father but kept her last name since she had a firmly established interior design business and had no intention of redoing her cards.  
Alice never spent a lot of time with her aunt simply because the woman was too busy, but Hannah usually deferred treatment of Alice to Helen. For her to want to see her it either meant she was going to be scolded and given a serious talking to or it meant something worse. Helen hadn’t disowned her daughter, but Hannah could possibly throw her out of the family.

“When?”

“Tonight. Alone. Says you can bring your partner another night if tonight goes well.”

“Got it.”

“Come on. I’ll buy you lunch.”

Following after Michael Alice pulled out her cell and sent a quick text to Jillian.

_‘Dinner with my aunt and uncle tonight’_

_‘Am I invited?’_

_‘Not tonight.’_

_‘Luck.’_

_'I’m gonna need it.’_

Tucking her cell away again she followed Michael into the restaurant and sat down.

“Texting your girl?”

“We were planning on pot roast tonight.”

“She cooks too?”

Alice laughed and shook her head. “Nah I still cook, but Holtzmann likes to pick.”

“Aunt Helen mentioned that.” Michael leaned back in his seat and pointed at her. “You only call her by her last name.”

“When I’m alone with her or with our friends I use her first name.” Alice said, shrugging slightly. “But she prefers going by her last name so unless she tells you her first name I won’t.”

“Fair enough. I remember when you used to demand to be called Alice not Allie for the longest time.”

“I didn’t like people who weren’t family calling me it.”

“Janet calls you it.”

“Janet is practically my sister.”

“Hm.” Michael sighed softly and shook his head. “I’m not here to argue Alice and I can see your fist curling.”

Alice blinked and looked down at her hand, noticing the fingers were starting to curl in. It seemed her instant response to being questioned about her relationship was anger. “Sorry.”

“Just don’t do that tonight. My mom will assume you’re hiding something.”

Nodding slightly the lunch was passed in silence between the two. The rest of her day she was tense, planning on the worst to happen once she got to her aunt’s home. After locking up she went to her apartment and changed out of her boho clothes. Hannah always asked her to dress in ‘respectful’ clothes when she came by.

Changing into long pants and a sweater to hid her tattoos she pulled her hair into a braid and then headed out to her aunt’s home. Standing outside the door for a few hesitant moments she finally knocked on it.

Uncle Brandon opened the door, giving her no end of relief. He was a simple man who never involved himself in the family drama.

“Hey Uncle Brady.”

“Hi Allie. She’s in her office.”

“Right to the wolves huh?”

“Better to get it over with then wait until after dinner.”

“Right.” Nodding Alice entered the home and headed right back to her aunt’s office, knocking on the door to alert her before entering. “Hello Aunt Hannah.”

“Alice. Take a seat.” Nodding again Alice sat down and waiting to be acknowledged again, feeling very much like a naughty child brought to the principal.

“I’m going to make this as painless as I can. Simple yes and no questions. Understand?”

“Yes Aunt Hannah.” It was times like this Alice was thankful the women weren’t identical twins.

“Did you purposefully start a fight with your mother?”

“No Aunt Hannah.”

“Did your partner attempt to rile your mother into a physical altercation?”

“No Aunt Hannah.” Alice had to lace her fingers together to keep from clenching her fists. Hannah meanwhile hadn’t looked up from her work.

“If your mother hadn’t struck you, would you have called her the day before yesterday?”

“Yes Aunt Hannah.”

“I see.” Finally looking up Hannah gave Alice a critical eye. “Does this woman make you happy?”

“Yes Aunt Hannah.”

“Good enough for me. I’ve told your mother to leave the two of you alone, which she will if she wants to stay in the will. I suggest not contacting her for a while. You two need space apart.”

“Yes Aunt Hannah.”

“Good. Let’s go see what my house elf of a husband made for dinner.”

Alice couldn’t help the giggle, partly from how Hannah referred to her husband and partly out of relief of how simple it went. Following after Hannah they came into the dining room just as Brandon finished setting down a very impressive turkey onto a table already filled with foods.

“Thanksgiving already?”

“Practice for this year smart mouth.” Brandon’s voice held no heat. “Someone’s father told me my turkey was dry last year.”

“…It was fine.”

“Your father knows nothing about cooking. But I figure if I say I practiced he’ll back off.”

“Yep.”

The four of them sat down to eat, a few comments about various things and Brandon asking after Jillian as well passed the time until Alice was sent home.

As she entered her apartment she pulled out her cell and dialed Jillian’s number.

“Anything good happen?” Was Jillian’s instant response when she answered.

“Better than I thought, we’re in the clear.”

Jillian’s cheer over the phone caused her to laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At least someone in the family has sense
> 
> Also don't forget you can find Dragon and I at http://whoyougonnacallseries.tumblr.com/


	27. Checks and Talks

After the thankfully uneventful dinner with her Aunt and Uncle Alice felt more comfortable with her standing in the family.

But it also made her feel more on edge about her mother’s reaction.

Almost all of Alice’s actions had been met with complaining and guilt trips, never outright violence. Even the tattoos were met with a grudging understanding since Alice had gone with a floral theme instead of anything offensive. Her hair was sighed over, but it was pastel colored and acceptable.

Her father’s words rang into her head. It wasn’t that Alice was dating a woman, it was who she was dating.

Alice was awake while Jillian was passed out on her couch after a hard bust so she watched her girlfriend. Her argument against her parents stood firm, if they just took the time to get to know Jillian she was sure at least her dad would at least like her enough to be pleasant.

Sighing softly Alice shook her head, knowing she’d just give herself a headache if she tried to untangle that mess. Peach and Bowser were sleeping with Jillian and Mario was in his cage so she quietly went to her porch and sat down on one of the deck chairs she had.

Her apartment was in a fairly nice part of the city so she didn’t feel weird sitting outside in the middle of the night. Kicking her feet up she thought over how the next time she saw her parents would go. Even with Hannah’s comment of avoiding them there wouldn’t be any chance to avoid them if the Ghostbusters were invited to any galas hosted by anyone.

Alice wouldn’t leave them alone to deal with that nor would so risk her mother saying something to Jillian to piss her off. Rubbing her fingers together she sighed softly and plotted how she would do the next gala. Not everyone used her floral shop for their flowers so she couldn’t know though that when the next one was.

Abby hadn’t mentioned anything about the contacts Alice had made for them at the last gala, so she made a mental note to ask her about it in the morning.

Settling into her chair she sighed and closed her eyes, relaxing into a small rest as she let Jillian sleep on the couch.

The next afternoon at lunch Alice brought by Chinese food again, dropping off more fried rice and egg rolls on Kevin’s desk before she headed upstairs.

“Lunch is here.” She called as she set the bags down.

“My most epic girlfriend.” Jillian was over in a heartbeat and kissing her deeply.

“Hey Jil. Where’s Abby?”

“Over with Erin.” Leaving Jillian to dig through the bags for what she wanted Alice came over to the whiteboard where Abby and Erin were busy discussing some formula that was scrawled across it.

“Hey ladies.”

“Hey Al, thanks for bringing lunch.”

“No worries. Hey, Abby, has anyone contacted you about funding or anything like that since the last gala?”

“Oh yeah! It’s been pouring in. If the Mayor ever screws us, we’re set for life.” Abby walked away and brought back a file of emails for Alice to leaf through.

“Good. I had been thinking about it last night and decided to ask.” Alice pulled one out and read over it. “Any invitations to big events?”

“A few, I was waiting to talk to you about that.” The two went over to Abby’s desk and looked over the invitations.

“This one is usually dead; you’re only being invited to liven it up. Mr. Cooke is inviting you to piss off his ex-wife on this one. Mr. Anderson is always a good choice to go to, his events are near the Mayor’s level and he usually has a dance floor so you can sit and laugh at the drunk rich people.”

“You’ll be there.”

“I know. I will _be_ one of those drunk rich people.”

Abby chuckled at that and opened up her email to send a response to Anderson. The event wasn’t for another few weeks, giving Alice enough time to get together a different dress for the event and even help the others find something just in case. Sighing softly she wandered back to her girlfriend and sat in her lap.

“We’re going to a charity event in a couple weeks.”

“Oh joy.”

“Shush.” Alice laughed, shaking her head. “Anderson is a good guy and the events were fun when I went to them. Plus he invites people more in line with his thinking which means more networking for you.”

“You mean you right? You’re not going to abandon me to those people are you? I did not take you for cruel and inhumane.”

Tipping her head back Alice gave Jillian’s cheek a gentle kiss. “I’ll be there with you don’t worry.”

“Good.” Jillian’s arms wrapped around her waist and help her close, nuzzling into her neck.

They chatted for the rest of lunch before Alice had to return to her shop where she found Michael waiting outside for her.

“Do I wanna know?”

“Nah I’m just here to bug you. It’s been ages since we’ve spent any time together.”

“Hm.” Letting him into the shop she flipped the sign to open and pointed him to the counter. “You get to play Janet’s role today and be the counter bunny.”

“…Can’t I be something manlier?”

“I could call Aunt Hannah and tell her you’re here.”

“I love playing counter bunny!”

“That’s what I thought.”

Michael was quiet for a while, taking the orders as they came in before he finally sighed.

“Soo…how is it going with your girl?”

“Holtzmann and I are fine. Why?”

“Your mom is paying me twenty bucks a day to keep my eyes on you.”

Alice paused in the creation of another vased bouquet to turn to him with a raised eyebrow. “And?”

“If you say you’re happy, you’re happy. I just wanted to check in.”

“Mmhm.”

“Scouts honor.”

“You were never a scout.”

“….True. Anyway I really just wanted to give you a heads up. You know what she’ll resort to after me.”

“Can’t you complain to your mom? I don’t want Holtzmann setting a PI on fire.”

“She wouldn’t, would she?”

“Yes. She would and probably well enough I wouldn’t be able to douse him before serious burns happen. She works with nuclear equipment, Michael.”

“…I’ll tell my mom tonight and give you the report tomorrow.”

“Good.”

Michael left at closing, promising again to tell his mom what was going on. Heading to her own home Alice sighed softly as she entered her apartment, tossing her stuff onto the couch.  
Dinner was the pot roast she had promise Jillian two nights ago. As she was cooking the door opened again and all too familiar squeaks headed into the kitchen.

“Don’t tickle me, Jill. You will regret it.”

“Aw.” Instead of tickling her Jillian’s arms came around her waist and she leaned into her back. “Anything good happen while I wasn’t there?”

“Michael came by to talk. Nothing interesting to say but it’s nice seeing him.”

“That’s good.”

Alice felt Jillian nuzzling into her neck so she tipped her head to the side to give her more room. They stood in silence for a couple moments as Alice cooked, Jillian swaying them gently. As Alice started to add carrots to the pot roast Mario started whistling his theme from his cage.

“His water is probably empty. Can you go check that for me?”

“No problem.”

Jillian left to take care of Mario, who seemed to like her if only to try and peck at her glasses whenever she came close enough, and Alice finished messing with the pot roast. Leaving it to simmer for a while she came out to the living room and sat on her couch as Mario snuck out of his cage while Jillian’s back was turned.

Flying over to her he stood on Alice’s knee and titled his head at her. “Cooked bird?”

“No, Mario. Cow.”

“Good.”


	28. Shopping Woes

“I can just reuse my suit from the last gala!”

“It’s black tie and your suit is grey.”

Dress shopping was going to be harder than Alice first thought. Apparently Jillian was against the ideas of malls and shopping and spending money in general. No matter how many times Alice assured her they were going to a dress shop that Alice used to frequent whose owners were good people Jillian was not budging.

“Jil you’re coming with us. You need a black tie tuxedo.” Alice stood firm, keeping her gaze level with her girlfriend’s.

“What do I get out of it?”

“…Not sleeping on the couch for a week?”

That caused Jillian to flinch and look at her wide eyed. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would. If the dresses need to be tailored at all we need to go dress shopping today. Anderson is a friend of mine and I don’t want to embarrass him by showing up in the same dresses we wore at the Mayor’s gala.” Alice sighed softly, stepping around Jillian’s work table and wrapping her arms around the others waist. “It’s not like I’m asking you to wear a dress.”

“I just don’t like spending money when we could just go thrift store shopping.”

“For the Mayor’s next gala we go to we’ll get thrift store dresses. For Anderson I want to be fancy. He’s going to be your biggest backer.”

Jillian sighed and buried her face into Alice’s hair, holding her tightly. “Fine. But I get to pick the color of your dress.”

“Deal!”

The drive to the dress shop was mostly done with Jillian muttering softly from the driver’s seat about having to spend money.

“It’s my money Jil.” Alice said as they got out of the hearse after they parked. “Let me spoil you all.”

“Now you’re just cheating.”

“Yes I am. Stop arguing.” Kissing her cheek gently Alice grabbed Jillian’s hand and hauled her into the shop after the rest of the group. “Mica!”

Mica Pajari was a small and plump Russian woman that had been helping Alice pick out her dresses since she was a kid. She and her husband ran the store, Mica was the sales woman and her husband Leonid did the tailoring or alterations on the dresses.

At her voice Mica came around the counter and grabbed Alice into a hug, squeezing her tightly. “Alice!” Despite living in America since Alice was young Mica still spoke in a thick Russian accent. “Bubba I didn’t expect to see you until December!”

“I’m here with some friends and my girlfriend. We’re going to a charity ball in a couple weeks.”

“Weeks! Giving my poor Leo weeks to alter dresses!” Mica teased before looking around the group. “And so many new faces! I’ll get Leo and we’ll discuss.” With that she hurried off to the back.

“She’s nice.” Erin laughed as she watched the small women nearly run.

“Mica and her husband were the closest things to grandparents I ever had.” Alice said as she lead them over to chairs so they could sit. “Even after Helen found a different dress shop she preferred I always made her bring me here so I could have Mica and Leo make my dress.”

“Wow…that’s…kinda a little nerve wracking. What if they don’t like me, either?” Jillian suddenly looked very nervous.

“Leo loves new ideas so fitting you for a tux will make his day. And don’t worry. I never came out to my parents in high school but I did tell Mica.”

“Tell me what?” Mica returned with Leo in tow, a tall gaunt man that every Halloween dressed as Jack Skellington. The two made a rather odd pair, but Alice had seen how much they loved each other.

“About me dating girls.”

“Oh that silliness?” Turning to Jillian Mica shook her head. “She comes to me in tears begging to know if she’s broken. I tell her that she is not, our god in heaven knows even I had a few girls in my bed before I found my Leo. Does she listen? No!”

“I was fifteen!” Alice blushed deeply and Jillian chuckled and kissed her forehead.

“Shush bubba. Anyways my darlings, up up up! I will take your measurements in the side room so if anything needs to be changed Leo does not need to embarrass you.” Mica shooed everyone but Alice into the side room and closed the door behind them.

“Alice.” She looked up as Leonid beckoned her to follow. “You look happy bubba. I am glad.”

“They’re good friends. And Holtzmann is good to me.”

“Holtzmann?”

“She prefers going by her last name.”

“Ah.” The two wandered around the dresses and picked a few out for the others to try on. “No dresses for Holtzmann?”

“She prefers a tuxedo. It’s a black tie event and we would need a pocket square that matches whatever color dress she picks for me.”

“White is traditional.”

“Mm. And where is the fun in that?”

“Exactly bubba. Hmm, these are enough for me to use as a guide.”

They returned to the seats where the others were waiting along with Mica.

“We found dresses for the three. Holtzmann if you will come with me to pick out Alice’s dress?” Leonid motioned for Jillian to follow while Alice laid out the dresses for the others. “We will also discuss your tuxedo while there.”

After the two of them left Alice helped the others sort through the dresses while Mica made considering sounds to each one they tried on. Eventually they decided on their dresses with Mica’s approval of them.

Erin picked out a white Grecian inspired dress that gathered at her waist so the halter top billowed out around her torso. It was floor length with a little extra fabric in the back so that it would trail out behind her.

Abby was also in a white outfit, but she had chosen to do another two piece. The pleated skirt was double layered with the top layer being see through and the top was a long sleeved cuffed shirt that tied in the front.

Patty decided on a black one shoulder dress. It wasn’t completely floor length, hitting to about her ankles, but she like the freedom to not step on her dress. It was tucked in at her waist and the sides of it were shiny, which contrasted nicely with the matte front and back.

Jillian returned with Leonid and handed Alice a green bundle and shooed her off to the dressing room, her choice for herself tucked under her arm. Tugging it on Alice took a moment to look over it herself before she came out.

It was a floor length emerald green dress with a strapless sweetheart neckline. The top was wrap style before bleeding into the two layered skirt. The only other embellishment was a crystal add-on at the waist of the dress. The more daring aspect was a slit that was nearly up to her hip. It reminded Alice of her old tango dresses.

When she stepped out Mica and Leonid had her stand on a stool so they could tut over it and talk amongst themselves in Russian. Alice sighed and shrugged to the others, used to it since it happened every time.

“It is...acceptable. Green with your hair is a little odd so I suggest and updo. But it plays nicely with your…sleeves?” Mica was never good at remembering the terms.

“Sleeve tattoos, yes.”

“Sleeves yes. Anyways it works with the tattoos.” Turning to her husband Mica spoke briefly in Russian before shooing Alice to change back into her regular clothes. “I made notes of the adjustments needed so you girls are fine to go. Holtzmann, your turn.”

Holtzmann’s tuxedo came with a cummerbund instead of a vest, but it still looked good. Leonid spent several minutes fussing with the bow tie before settling on a butterfly knot.

“Perfect. You two will look adorable together. Bubba you make sure this one does something nice with her hair yes?”

“Yes Mica.”

“Good. Go and change now. Leo will look after the clothing. Do I send the finished pieces to your address bubba?”

“If you could Mica.”

“Of course bubba.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the massive twitch in updates. I've been feeling like hell the last two days and my body finally took over and held me hostage in sleep and even when I was awake it was a struggle to write. Hopefully I can get the next chapters out on time.
> 
> Erin's dress is Kristen Wiig's 2012 SAG Awards dress
> 
> Abby's is Melissa McCarthy's 'The Boss' premiere outfit
> 
> Patty's is Leslie Jones's 2015 American Museum Gala dress
> 
> And Holtzmann's is based off of this absolutely adorable sketch I saw on tumblr of her in a tux and for the life of me I can't find the artist's name otherwise I'd credit them. Seriously it's adorable she has a wrench in her pocket instead of a pocket square


	29. Planning and Giggles

It took two fittings before Leonid was happy with the dresses and suit. Mica made suggestions for their hair and accessories, grumbling slightly when she picked at Alice’s hair. Apparently she preferred Alice to stay with colors that complimented her hair.

Emerald green wasn’t one of them.

About a week before the charity one of Anderson’s assistant called her at work.  
“Hello Miss Campbell!”

“Hi Miss Amy, what did you need?”

“Well Anderson was talking about how wonderful your flowers were for the Mayor’s gala and I was wondering-“

“Miss Amy it’s a week before the event. I need at least three to properly plan anything, run it by you or Anderson, and get the projects finished.”

“Oh…right.”

“Plus I typically never do the projects for events I plan on attending.”

“Oh! I hadn’t realized you had accepted an invitation! How wonderful!”

“Yes. I can give you the number to another florist who may be able to help in time.”

“Wonderful!”

Flipping through her rolodex Alice paused at one she often recommended for express jobs. “Alright Petal Kisses will be able to help you. They usually are. Do you have a pen?”

“Yes!” Alice rattled off the number to her, Amy repeating it back a moment later.

“That’s it. Anything else Miss Amy?”

“Nope. Thank you Miss Campbell.”

“Of course.” Hanging up the phone Alice sighed softly and rubbed her nose. She hated when people assumed she could get a project of that size done within a week. The Mayor’s events were preplanned and always worked down to the wire to make sure everything was done.

Clicking her tongue she went to her work desk and cleaned up the remains of a project she had just finished when the phone started ringing. With the stems and leaves cleaned up she headed to the back room to count the flowers she had and make a note on which ones needed to be reordered since they were running low.

The phone rang again and she hurried out to grab it. “Thank you for calling the Talking Garden this is Alice how can I help you?”

“Hey girl!”

“Abby why are you calling me at work when you could just walk down here?” Alice laughed, shaking her head.

“It’s more fun. Anyway I just wanted to check in on the dresses and stuff?”

“Got to my apartment yesterday. I’ll bring them by the day before.”

“Sweet, that brings me to another point. Erin...kinda scheduled all of us for a spa day the morning before the event.”

“That’s sweet of her, why?”

“She said it’s because of how the last event went she wants us going in relaxed and spoiled. Especially since the last event you had the work the whole day before.”

“Well that’s very sweet of her. I can’t wait.” Alice smiled softly, looking forward to it.

“Yeah she wanted it to be a big surprise but I talked her out of it. Pointed out that if you don’t know about it you’re just going to go to work and not come by till it’s time to dress.”

Alice just laughed since she knew it was true. “Alright. I’ll make a note to take the day off.”

“Holtz will keep you from working.”

“This is true.”

Alice and Abby talked for a few moments longer before she had to hang up and go back to work. When it was finally closing time Alice locked up the shop and headed to her apartment. Locking the door behind her out of habit Alice went to the kitchen and started cooking dinner. Halfway through it she heard her door unlock and open, followed by the sounds of Jillian’s squeaks. Frowning she turned to the woman.

“I thought I locked that door.”

“You did.” Jillian held up her key ring and Alice noted that one of the keys was completely covered in a rose pattern.

“You copied my house key? When?”

“One of the nights we were together. You have a copy of mine.”

Alice frowned and went to her key ring that was hung up at the door. There, hidden between her shop key and the key to Janet’s house was a key with a pacman ghost covering the head. “How the hell did I not notice this?”

“You tend not to pay attention to things so long as everything else is right.”

Alice paused for a moment before shrugging. Jillian wasn’t wrong about that. “Okay…well that makes life easier.”

“Yep!”

Laughing softly Alice went back into the kitchen to finish cooking dinner, Jillian taking a seat on the couch with the dogs.

“Abby tell you about the spa day?”

“Yeah, called me at work.”

“Apparently while the rest of them are getting treated alone you and I are getting the couples day.” Jillian laughed, waggling her eyebrows at Alice.

“Those poor workers. You’re going to take this as a chance to misbehave.”

“Hey I can behave!”

“Have you had a spa day before?”

“…No?”

“Yeah, tell me you can behave after we get there.”

Jillian laughed softly, shaking her head. A few moments later Alice came out with the stew she had made the night before and handed her a bowl of it.

“They’re fun, and the massage will probably become something you get addicted to. I don’t go often because I don’t carry a lot of stress.”

“Nope. My hippie baby.” Jillian laughed, kissing her cheek softly.

“Mm.” Alice settled onto the couch with her own bowl, humming softly.

“So what should I expect?”

“Lots of soft music, water or tea being given to us every five minutes, and it will be warm.”

“Are we gonna have to get naked?”

“Mmhm. They’ll give us robes and slippers to wear and during the massages we’ll be covered by towels. No one will see you naked except a few patches of skin.”

“Mm.”

The two settled in to eat, Alice having to play keep away with Peach who decided to try and steal her food. When they were done Alice cleaned up the dishes and set out some food in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow.

Jillian yawned and headed to the bedroom to change into some of the pjs she had in Alice’s closet. Alice joined her a few moments later, laughing softly as Jillian tossed her the shirt pair to the pjs pants she was already wearing. Changing into it she yawned and crawled into bed.

The dogs followed them in after the two finished settling in. Bowser laid across their legs and Peach wiggled between the pair so she got surrounded by warmth.

“I have the most spoiled animals.”

Jillian laughed into Alice’s hair, nuzzling her forehead. “You love them.”

“I do, but it doesn’t change the fact I have completely spoiled them.”

“At least they’re well trained.”

“Only because I got bored one day and decided to train them.”

“Still.”

“Mm.” Yawning softly Alice nuzzled into Jillian’s neck and fell asleep.


	30. Dancing Away

The spa had been wonderful, even if Jillian was making jokes the entire time about being jealous of other people seeing Alice naked.

Alice and Erin took advantage of the offer to do their hair, the others saying they had their own ideas about what they were going to do with their hair. Afterwards Alice noticed she was tipping her head slightly since the woman had piled her hair up into rather complicated braided bun. She almost regretted not asking the woman to write down the notes on how she did it.

At the firehouse they all changed into their new outfits, Jillian pausing halfway through hers to help Alice zip up her back and balance her so Alice could pull her shoes on. In turn Alice helped her do her bowie and fix the pocket square into the proper shape.

As Alice put on her makeup she noticed that Jillian wasn’t making any moves to put her hair up.

“Going to leave it down?” She asked in confusion, looking over she shoulder from where she had been applying her lipstick.

“Yeah, figured it be good change.” Jillian came over and leaned her chin on Alice’s shoulder.

“I’m surprised how long it is, I figured you would’ve fried half off it off.” Alice reached up and twisted some of her hair around her fingers.

“Nah, I was careful with it.” Jillian laughed as Alice went back to her makeup. “Surprised to see you wearing gold lipstick.”

“Felt daring today.”

“I like it.”

The two finally left the bathroom and joined up with the others.

“The lovebirds finally join us.” Patty laughed, shaking her head at them.

“Jealous?” Jillian teased as they headed out of the building.

“Nah, happy for the two of you.”

Piling into the hearse the group drove to the Anderson home where the charity was taking place.  
“So what’s this going to be like? I’m guessing different than a gala?” Erin asked, leaning forward to look at Alice.

“Somewhat. Anderson’s charities are usually done by auction so people don’t feel forced to pay up. Since you’re special guests you’re not expected to put anything up to bid or buy anything.” Alice paused for a moment and shook her head. “I really advise not trying to bid on anything. Some people may decide to bounce the bid up and then leave you stuck paying nearly a million on some vase.”

“Damn girl.”

“Yeah, welcome to rich people getting drunk. Tomorrow’s regrets are gonna be fun.”

Jillian laughed softly, shaking her head. “And we get to watch them crash and burn.”  


“Yep, ground zero.”

Once again Jillian let everyone but Alice out at the doors and they went to park the hearse. Coming to the doors she noticed Anderson had come out to talk to them.

“Good evening Mr. Anderson.” Alice greeted, her arm wrapped around Jillian’s.

“Ah Miss Campbell, Doctor Holtzmann. Don’t the two of you make a picture?” Anderson said, shaking Jillian’s hand before giving Alice a kiss on her cheek. “I was just informing the others of tonight.”

“Don’t tell me I’m going to have to break rules Anderson.”

“Of course not no. You all are more than welcome to mingle, network. I encourage it!” Anderson was a fairly dramatic man, but he had a fun energy. “I was just informing them not to feel pressured to bid since I realize that they won’t have the same access to funds that the rest of us do. Once the drinking starts the others may get excited. You remember how it is Miss Campbell.”

“I remember. Don’t worry we’ll behave.”

“Good good!” Clapping his hands he glanced between the two of them. “Shall you be dancing tonight ladies? I hired a band that knows tango music.”

Alice raised an eyebrow before smiling. “If the mood strikes us.”

“Wonderful! Well come on inside ladies. No use standing around here.”

Inside was just as crazy as she remembered. Despite being a CEO Anderson was an eccentric man and enjoyed friends of the like mind. Anderson had to specify black tie events otherwise his friends would show up in all manner of things.

“I used to love his Halloween parties.” Alice sighed as they made their way to a table to set Alice and Patty’s clutches down. “They were so fun.”

“What did he do?” Abby looked almost excited as she asked.

“Oh each year was a different theme. The last time I went was my last year of middle school. The theme was Neverland. Like Peter Pan.”

“Okay that sounds fun.”

“It was! My parents were so upset though. His invitation to them specified that I dress as Tinkerbell. When we get here instead of my cousin Michael being Peter like my mother requested Anderson was, and his wife was Wendy. I spent the entire night with them.”

“Oh she must’ve hated that.”

“I wasn’t allowed back next year.” Alice laughed, shaking her head.

Jillian hummed softly and kissed her cheek. “Well maybe he’ll invite us this year.”

“I hope he does. Mm, time to network.”

“You sure, we just got here?”

“Best time to do it.”

Kissing Jillian’s cheek softly Alice walked out to the groups of people, professional smile in place. It was easier to network in this group since almost all of them had heard of the Ghostbusters and were interested in meeting them. She noticed that Abby and Patty had also left the table, leaving Erin to field the questions from people who came by while Jillian was entertaining a smaller group with stories.

She did two rounds of the groups, making sure that she hit everyone she had missed at the gala. Many were excited to see her since she hadn’t come by in years. Checking the groups once more to make sure there wasn’t anyone left Alice sighed happily and went back to the table.

“Hello love.” Alice teased as she came over to Jillian and took a seat on her lap, not missing the looks of jealousy she received from some in the group.

“Hey babe.” Jillian kissed her gently “Anything interesting.”

“Some new faces, some old faces.”

“All the same.” Jillian laughed just as the music turned to the tango. “Come on, let’s dance.”

Not protesting, Alice allowed herself to be tugged onto the floor. The two had been practicing in her apartment throughout the weeks, but she hadn’t expected her to want to dance in public.

As they danced Alice focused on the music and Jillian instead of the people around them. She had gotten quite confident in her steps, though they hadn’t practiced any lifts. Though Alice didn’t think she could do a lift without kicking someone with her heels.

As the dance carried on Jillian started having fun. After a dip she would tug Alice close and kiss her, or during the dip trail her finger down Alice’s stretched neck and down to her breasts. Alice had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing at the tickling sensation.

“Jillian you’re going to embarrass us.” She giggled, shaking her head.

“We’re having fun. And we’re dating, it’s expected.” Another kiss and Jillian spun her out before snapping her back.

“You’re awful.”

“You love it.”

Alice had no answer expect another laugh and shaking her head again. As the dance drew to an end Jillian tipped her back one last time before pulling her up slowly. Once the two had stopped moving a round of applause broke out and Alice felt herself flush.

“They love us.” Jillian laughed, kissing her before leading her back to the table. It was then Alice noticed several cellphones that were being put away. Blushing again she groaned.

“They’re going to be posting and sharing that video all over.”

“It was a show you guys, gotta expect it.” Abby apparently had no pity for the two of them.

“Shush you. I’m allowed to moan about this. Janet is going to be on me about not telling her we were planning on dancing here.” Alice said with a teasing smile to show she wasn’t serious as Jillian sat down and tugged her into her lap.

“Mm. Still should’ve expected it.” Abby laughed, shaking her head at them.


	31. Charities and Ex-Girlfriends

The rest of the charity event passed quickly and soon enough they were at the auction. Alice stayed sitting in Jillian’s lap throughout it, laughing slightly as the drunk blue bloods around them paid ungodly amounts of money on the silliest things.

Granted Alice was also giggling because she was happily tipsy off of her favorite wine.

“What are you drinking girl?” Patty laughed, noting her rosy cheeks and giggling nature.

“Mm? Oh a tawny port wine. I’ve always favored sweet wines over dry.”

“Okay…and that means?”

Alice giggled softly before waving her hand. “It’s hard to explain. I like sweet things and not all wines are sweet. Tawny port wines tend to be the sweetest red wines. So I prefer them. The bad thing is port wines are fortified wines which means a spirit has been added. I think brandy is typically used.”

“So basically you’re drinking sugar and alcohol.”

“Yep.”

“Good thing you’re not the one driving.”

“Oh yeah.”

By the end Alice had to cut herself off from drinking since it was going to her head and she didn’t have Michael there to carry her out.

“I forgot to ask” Erin started as they all piled into the car. “What charity is the money going to?”

“It’s going to be split in half. Anderson’s wife Katherine favors charities to help children and Anderson favors medical research. So instead of arguing they just split the money and both donate.”

Erin nodded slightly and the group settled into silence as Jillian dropped them off at their respective homes. After dropping off the hearse at the firehouse Alice and Jillian were careful as they got on Jillian’s bike and drove to her apartment.

They shared a shower together before climbing into bed, Alice still a bit giggly from the wine in her head. But it also meant that she fell asleep easily.

Her phone ringing woke her up and the clock on Jillian’s night table showed she had only been asleep for an hour. Jillian was still out cold so she quickly grabbed her phone and answered the call.

“H-Hello?” She yawned, rolling away from Jillian so the noise was slightly muffled.

“Well that was a show.”

“Michael? It’s fricking two in the morning.”

“Yeah and I was bored and dinking around on youtube and found a very lovely video of you and your girlfriend.”

“She’s a better dancer than you. Couldn’t this have waited till morning?”

“You didn’t want an early warning that the video is on the internet? And it is morning.”

“It’s only morning after six am. It’s still night. And I figured when I saw the phones.”

“Spoilsport.”

“Good night Michael.” Not giving him a chance to respond Alice hung her phone up and rolled back over, blinking when she noticed Jillian was awake.

“Your cousin is a dick for calling.”

“I know. But he was trying to give us a heads up that a certain someone might not listen to his mom about not contacting me.”

“Mm.” Jillian rolled and pinned Alice under her, nuzzling into her neck. “Well no more phone. So sleep.”

“Yes yes.” Alice laughed, yawning and slipping back into sleep.

When true morning finally rolled around Alice woke before Jillian and wiggled out from under her, taking her phone and heading into the living room. Turning it on she noted the number of texts from people she hadn’t spoken to in years.

Scrolling through the texts she raised an eyebrow noticing most of them were basically saying the same thing. That they thought she had just been pissy when she told off her senior prom date. The only one who didn’t was Michelle, and she had no idea how the girl got her number.  
Sighing she hit the call button on Michelle and sat on the couch, rubbing her eyes.

“Surprised you’re calling Al-baby.”

“Don’t call me that. You don’t get to call me that anymore.”

“Aw, so touchy.”

“I’m at my girlfriend’s house and I don’t feel comfortable with you acting lovey with me.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone before Michelle hissed through her teeth. “Surprised you came out to your mom.”

“I live outside of her home and support myself. Despite that my mother still slapped me hard enough to bruise for two weeks.”

More silence for a longer period of time. “Want me to text you the photos? My girl took them to make sure people understood what happened.”

“Your girl. How cute. You never referred to me like that.”

“You hated it. You _never_ wanted me to use possessive terms.”

“I…well…”

“You don’t get to get pissy with me about things you asked me not to do that she enjoys me doing. Why did you even text me Michelle? We hadn’t spoken since our break up.”

“I saw your dance. You never ask-”

“You never wanted to dance.”

“Stop correcting me!”

And there was her anger. Michelle always was ready to snap while Alice remained calm. “Stop acting like I didn’t try in our relationship.”

Jillian came out at that sentence and gave her a confused look so Alice covered the mouthpiece to her cell. “Michelle. Saw our dance.”

“Tell her to fuck off.”

“Trying to. Coffee please?”

“Of course.” Jillian leaned over and kissed her softly before heading to the kitchen. Small scratches showed the Einstein was following after her for attention.

“Who was that?”

“My girlfriend. I told you I was at her place. Now answer my question, why did you text?”

“I _did_.”

“No you didn’t.”

“…Goodbye Alice.”

Sighing softly Alice hung her cell up and headed to the kitchen. “That was tedious.”

“Bad?”

“Annoying. I did adore her once, but damn did I forget how high strung she was.”

“Mm.” Handing her a cup of coffee Jillian kissed her forehead. “Think she’ll make an appearance?”

“Doubt it. Michelle tends to demand people come see her. She’s expecting me to go see her now that she’s poked at me.”

“Brat.”

“Big one. Don’t worry I have no intention to go see her. She annoys me to much now.”

Sipping her coffee Alice went back to the couch, carefully stepping over the ferret as he raced back to his tubes to go looking for his food. Jillian joined her a few moments later.

“What to go out for breakfast?”

“Mmhmm. It’ll be fun. Plus I need something greasy to fight this hangover that was just made worse by Michelle yelling in my ear.”

“My poor baby.” Jillian teased, pushing at her slightly.

“Shush you. I don’t drink often so allow me to wallow in my stupid choices.”

“At least it was your ex and not your mom.”

“She’ll be next I just know it.”

“Breakfast first. World disaster later.”


	32. Always Wrong

Alice hated being wrong.

She and Michelle were staring each other down across the counter, Alice for a moment wishing she had taken the day off.

Now that she was faced with her again Alice was reminded of why she had dated her. Michelle was a beautiful woman, tall and graceful with deep brown hair and eyes. She moved with a confidence that Alice didn’t have in high school and watching her reminded her of how often she sat in class watching her before they dated.

“What Michelle?”

“So snippy. I came to say hello.”

“You came to say something, hello isn’t it.”

Michelle twitched slightly and smoothed a smile onto her face. “Now Alice. I just wanted to meet your girlfriend.”

“No.”

“Alice?”

“You want to do something to her. I know you. You’re pissed.”

“I am. You came out for her.”

“She never pushed me to. I came out on my own.”

“I never-“

“ ‘Either come out to your mother Alice or I’ll drop you like a rock’. Weren’t those your words?”

“… You’re being picky.”

“You’re being bitchy. Kindly leave.”

Michelle gave a deep breath and tipped her head, a pouty look crossing her face slightly. “But Allie.”

“No. I’m not giving what you want. Go.”

“You’ve changed.”

“I hope so. Because in high school I was a doormat to people like you and my mom.”

Michelle twitched again and stepped closer to her counter “Alice you’re being unfair to me.”

“No I’m not. Michelle I already had this fight with my mom. I’m not fighting with you.” Alice stepped away from her counter and headed to her back room, “I’m going back to work. Please show yourself out.”

Alice shut the back room’s door behind her, avoiding Michelle. She didn’t want to start a fight in her shop, and while Michelle wasn’t a violent woman Helen hadn’t been either. Michelle didn’t like losing any more than Helen did so Alice didn’t want to learn if Michelle had it in her to be violent.

It took about thirty minutes for Michelle to leave before Alice could go back to her counter. Grabbing her cell she sent Jillian a text.

_‘So I was wrong.’_

_‘You’re never wrong.’_

_‘Michelle came by.’_

_‘Need me to swing by?’_

_‘Nah. It went…as good as it could’ve gone.’_

_‘I’ll get pizza for dinner.’_

_‘You spoil me.’_

The rest of the work day passed quietly after Michelle left, some of her regulars coming into see her or order some flowers.

Jillian came in at closing, bouncing over her counter to kiss her. “Well your face doesn’t look like anything happened.”

“Thinking I didn’t tell you if she hit me?”

“Would you?”

“…Fair point.”

At Alice’s apartment Jillian ordered pizza while Alice went to the kitchen to put on the kettle for tea. As the kettle boiled she went to change into her night shirt. Pouring the boiling water into her cup Alice steeped a tea bag in it.

“What’cha drinking?” Jillian came in and kissed her neck.

“Lavender tea. Michelle got me a little riled. We didn’t fight but I was reminded of our fight.”

“…What did she want?”

“Michelle hates losing. We fought because I hadn’t come out when I was in high school but now my mom knows.”

“You got slapped.”

“She knows, doesn’t care.”

Jillian grumbled behind her before went to the fridge to get some of the soda that was stocked in for her. The doorbell rang and Jillian went to collect the pizza.

“So question.”

“May have an answer.”

“Does she know your address.”

“I’m surprised she knew my cell number.”

“How did she?”

“Probably off of the floral shop’s website.”

Alice would really have to take that down since she didn’t want any more surprises like that. As they ate in the living room Alice went on her website on her cell and quickly erased her cell number from it.

“So think any of your other exs are going to get into contact with you?”

“I hope the to hell they don’t. Michelle was the worst but…I dated some stupid guys and some really stuck up girls.”

Still on her cell she went to YouTube and searched her name, finding a few videos of her floral work but the fourth video down was of the dance. Clicking on it she smiled as she tipped her cell to show Jillian the video.

In all fairness it was a fairly well done dance even if Jillian every so often looked down at her own feet to make sure she was dancing correctly. The video had some good comments about the two of them looking like a cute couple and some not so good comments that mostly focused on assumptions about their sex life.

“You know I’m more ticked that no one is commenting on the actual tango. No one appreciates good foot work anymore.”

Jillian laughed at Alice’s grumbling, taking her phone and closing out of the video. “At least we had fun.”

“This is true.”

After dinner they climbed into bed, Alice tucking her cell phone into her night table so the ringing wouldn’t wake her up if someone called. Thankfully she never used it as an alarm otherwise she’d be in massive trouble hiding it away.

Jillian groaned as Bowser took a running leap to jump on them, landing on top of Jillian with his full weight.

“Gotta love my dogs.” Alice laughed as Peach jumped into bed as well, instantly moving to sit on her chest.

“This is why I prefer my place. Einstein doesn’t jump on us.”

“No I’ve just lost a bra to him.”

“We found it!”

“Under the washing with the straps eaten off. You might not wear bras but I do.”

“I’d prefer if you didn’t.”

“You’d prefer if I didn’t wear clothing period.”

“True.”

Alice laughed softly, petting Peach as they all settled into bed. Bowser moved to lay on Jillian fully, his head resting on her chest with a grunt.

“Shush dog.” Jillian groused.


	33. Floral Showing

_‘How’s it going?’_

_‘Boring’_

Alice was doing a flower show, was currently on day two of it and was alone. That wasn’t unusual since Janet hated coming to these, but she was now used to Jillian constantly being over her shoulder.

The downside of dating someone just as touchy as she was apparently.

Smiling to a passing family she sat behind her table braiding some grass together. Typically these events were more a way for her to meet with other florists than a search for new customers. Many of them were more interested in the bigger companies than her small shop, especially once they learned she was the only one who worked there.

So to pass the time she braided grass or made flower crowns to pass out to whoever asked for one. Her phone buzzed on the table and she picked it up seeing it was a response from Jillian.

_‘We had a hunt today.’_

_‘Anything interesting happen?’_

_‘It was for Anderson.’_

Alice paused at that news, frowning. She knew that Anderson’s wife Katherine was spiritual and often spoke of ‘feeling’ the presences of ghosts in areas but she hadn’t figured it could actually be true for the woman.

_‘What happened?’_

_‘One of his new business sites was haunted. Easy job.’_

Not a call for Katherine than. Now she wondered how the woman took it when she learned there was a ghost she didn’t get to meet.

_‘Surprised that was the only one of his places haunted.’_

_‘Same. He’s got tons!!’_

Alice laughed softly, shaking her head. Anderson had a ton of locations, some even out of state. She wouldn’t be surprised when it came around that more of his shops turned out to be haunted. After a few more texts Alice had to close her phone since she had to go to the hotel. It was a jog across the street since she wouldn’t move her truck until it was time to go home.

After showering she laid out on the hotel bed, flipping through the channels a few times before deciding nothing good was on. Tomorrow would be the last day of the show and while she made a few sales it was only enough to cover the cost of her table. Some did seem interested in her designs, but for those she’d have to wait and see if they panned out.

A few knocks on her door caused Alice to sit up and blink at it, not expecting anyone.

“Room Service!”

“What the hell?” Getting up off the bed Alice padded over to the door and opened it. “I didn’t order any- “

Alice was cut off by a flash of yellow goggles and lips pressing into hers. Stumbling away from the door she faintly heard it click shut as she was pushed onto the bed. A moment later Jillian pulled away from the kiss, leaning over her with a smirk.

“Hey Al.”

“Wh…How did you know it was this hotel? Or even find me here?”

“This is the only hotel in the area, and I asked the front desk. Benefits of being your girlfriend.”

“They aren’t supposed to do that.”

“The picture I have on my phone of us kissing was enough proof.”

Alice blinked slightly and then laughed. “Okay than.”

Jillian rolled of her and flopped onto the bed, still dressed in her overalls and smelling slightly of her proton laser. Alice rolled onto her side to watch her.

“I thought you said it was an easy job?”

“It was. Just a long drive.”

“Mm. There should still be a lot of hot water.”

“Bless you.” Jillian rolled onto of her again and kissed her before hopping off of the bed and headed to the shower. Alice shifted so she was laying up against the pillows again.

After a few moments of showering Jillian was back out in the bedroom with her, wearing nothing up a towel since Alice was wearing the only robe. She climbed up onto the bed with her and curled around her from behind.

“Mm. Did you have any fun at the show?”

“Few cute kids walked away with flower crowns.”

“That’s good at least.” Jillian kissed her neck gently, nuzzling into her and holding her close.

Alice yawned softly, twisting in Jillian’s arms so they were facing each other. Jillian smiled and nuzzled their noses together, yawning herself.

“Bed.” Alice said, tugging at the blankets trapped under them.

“But I don’t wanna move.”

“Too bad. We’re both tired.”

“How are you even tired?” Despite her protest Jillian got off the bed so Alice could peel the blankets back. “You didn’t do anything much today right?”

“Dealing with children is exhausting. Glad they went away.”

“Soo…don’t want one of your own?”

Alice paused as she wiggled under the blankets and thought for a moment. “Adoption.”

“Hm?”

“If I have a kid I’m adopting, or surrogating using someone else’s eggs.”

“No desire to be pregnant?”

“I’m not carrying a parasite for nine months no.”

Jillian laughed at that, looking stunned. “Not what I expected from you.”

“…There’s a chance whatever’s made my mom so paranoid and hostile is genetic. I don’t want it passing on.”

That got her to paused before nodding. “Yeah okay, that makes sense.”

Alice sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly as Jillian climbed under the sheets with her. “Besides it’s not like there aren’t a ton of kids out there who need a family. Why have one myself when I can bring one home?”

“Yeah. That’s a good point.” Jillian’s voice was gentle as she spoke, hands rubbing up and down her back. “You put a lot of thought into it.”

“Started thinking about it right after that horrid Sex Ed video we got showed in middle school. The ‘miracle of life’ video just sank it deeper into my head that I wasn’t going through all that mess.”

“Hm.”

The rubbing was lulling Alice to sleep so she yawned and buried her face into Jillian’s neck. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Desire for children.”

“Mm. Maybe one day. Adoption as well. Lots of kids in the system who just need a chance.”

“Mm.”

Yawning again Alice closed her eyes and sighed deeply. “Things to think about.”

“Yeah…any partner in mind for when you finally adopt?”

“…Moving in together first, fully not just trading off who’s bed we sleep in. Then marriage and _then_ we can talk about kids. For right now though the kids thing is just figuring out if ideas line up.” Alice’s voice was muffled into Jillian’s neck as she spoke.

“Fair enough.”

With that they both lapsed into silence, Alice slowly falling asleep as Jillian kept rubbing her back and clearly thinking to herself since Alice could feel her jaw flexing against her head.

“Would you move in with me?”

“Not in an apartment.”

“Why not?” Jillian’s body was tense and Alice could feel her looking down at her.

“There’s no way I’d allow you to do your experiments inside the building.”

“It was a small boom!”

“Still a boom.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the weirdness in updates. I'm finding it a bit hard to focus at the moment (possible sign of another illness) but I'm trying to power through it. No updates to the other two fics today, but I'm hoping to get more on schedule soon enough


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